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This may well be the face of
American women’s middle distance running for the foreseeable future.
 It
is the face of fifteen-year-old Jordan Hasay, a sophomore from Arroyo Grande,
California, who runs track and cross country for Mission College Prep of San
Luis Obispo against local high school competition.
Hasay is often compared to all
time middle distance great Mary Slaney for both her early success and her style
of attacking her events from the start with aggressive front-running. She also
reminds some observers of Michael Jordan running with her tongue wagging.
Hasay made a huge breakthrough
into the limelight in running circles when in 2004 she set the USATF Junior
Olympics Youth age group record in both the 1500 meters (4:34.02) and the 3000
meters (9:48.77), only to return to the competition the following year (2005)
and rewrite both of her own marks with times of 4:28.61 and 9:35.12
respectively. As a 7th grader she established the 5K road race record
for 12 year olds at 17:06. She finished her 8th grade season holding
a World Record in the mile for age 13 of 4:51.48.
 Following
her freshman cross country season, Hasay won the 2005 Foot Locker Cross Country
Championship in 17:05 (5K / 3.1mi), to become the second freshman to win race.
Her time was the fastest winning time since 1994.
The following spring track
season she won the 3200 m 2006 California State High School Championship in
10:13.55. After the close of the high school season she went on to win the mile
at the 2006 Golden West Invitational in a time of 4:42.21. Her mark was less
than 1/4 second off the all time high school freshman mile record of 4:42.0 set
by in 1973 Mary Decker.
She completed the 2006 track
season in spectacular fashion by winning the 3000 m USATF Junior (19-and-under)
Championship in a time of 9:50.66. While, the winner of this race usually would
qualify and go on to represent the United States at the IAAF World Junior
Championship which was being held in Beijing, China, Hasay was too young at age
14 to compete according to IAAF rules.
Although disappointed with her
ineligibility to compete in Beijing in the 2006 World Juniors, she recognizes
that it may be beneficial in the long term. "I was really upset but I do
understand and I think (age) 14 would be too young...There will be plenty of
opportunities to compete internationally. The girls are very fast...I will be
able to compete a lot better."
Returning to the 2006 Foot
Locker Cross Country Championships on the same course where she won as a
freshman in a time of 17:05 she finished a disappointing 10th in
18:14. While many hinted that her performance was the result of overtraining her
comments were more straightforward, saying " I didn't have a very good
race. I was very nervous being the defending champion and because there were so
many great girls in the race. I had a lot of fun though and hopefully I can come
back next year and do better."
Out to prove that Foot Locker
was an aberration, in February, 2007 Hasay went to Boulder, Colorado to compete
in the USATF Junior Cross Country Championships, winning the 6K event in 21:44
to qualify for a spot on the American team for IAAF Junior World Championships.
The race was hers from the start, an saw her finishing almost 15 seconds ahead
of second place Bona Jones, 18, of North Carolina State University.
Her post race comments
included:
On how she after her race:
"I feel terrible. I've never been at altitude."
On realizing she was U.S.
Champion: "I was really happy."
 On
leading from the gun: "I was surprised no one else was behind me. I was
running the same pace. I was waiting for Aislinn (Ryan, a former Foot Locker
champ, now a University of Colorado freshman, who finished sixth and never
contested Hasay) to come and get me."
On whether she was
overdressed wearing long tights and a bright orange long sleeved jersey
while most runners wore shorts and tank tops in the mild temperatures and
shining sun: "No, I was cold. I wish I wore gloves."
On not being too young to
compete at 2006 USA Cross Country Championships: "I was upset last year
that I was too young to race so this was a little redemption for me."
On her goals: "The
Olympics. I want to go to the Trials next year, (in the) 5k."
Despite qualifying, Hasay
decided to forego the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya
despite having undergone 6 immunization shots to attend. ("The shots
actually weren’t as bad as I thought.") A statement issued by the U.S.
Embassy issued about a possible terrorist attack and possible demonstrations led
her and her family to conclude that it would "probably be pretty
dangerous." As a result she said the family "talked to a lot of people
and they all told me they didn’t want to me to go."
Returning to the track for her
sophomore season Hasay set the age 15 and HS sophomore class records in the 3200
in her first race on the track in 2007 with a time of 10:04.52., the fastest HS
time since 2004.
She later ran a 3200 time
trial in 10:02:19, with splits of 5:01/5:01, which being a time trial is an
unofficial time. Had it been a sanctioned race it would be number five on the
all time high school list, behind four seniors.
She completed the high school
season winning the 3200m 2007 California State High School Championship in a
time of 10:06.76 and then defended her mile championship at the 2007 Golden West
Invitational in a time of 4:43.34.
 At
the 2007 USATF Junior Championships in Indianapolis she won the 1500m in a meet
record time of 4:16.98. The time time beat the meet record (4:18.1) set by Lynn
Jennings in 1977. It was the fourth fastest 1,500 meter time in high school
history, and the fastest in the last 25 years. Kim Gallagher (1982), Francie
Larrieu (1969) and Polly Plumer (1982) are the only three high school runners of
the past that ran faster times. It also is the sophomore 1,500 record, beating
Suzy Favor's 4:19.46 from 1984.
The mark also was fast enough
for an Olympic Trial "B" standard qualifying time. The "B"
standard is 4:19.5. The Olympic Trials will take 30 runners in the 1,500 event.
If there are not 30 runners that have met the "A" standard (4:10),
some "B" standard runners will be invited. Hasay had chosen to run the
1,500 despite her decision to focus on the 5,000 for the 2008 U.S. Olympic
Trials.
The win marked her fourth
national caliber championship since she entered high school, the 2005 Prep Foot
Locker Nationals, the 2006 U.S.A. Track and Field Junior Nationals 3,000 meters
and the 2007 cross country Junior Nationals.
Hasay next is set to run the
1500m at the United States Youth Championships to be run from July 3 to 8 in
Lisle, Illinois
Her mother, Teresa, was an
outstanding swimmer in England while her father, Joe, scored over 2,000 points
as a high school basketball star. Hasay was a competitive freestyle swimmer from
ages 9-12 before focusing on running. She still swims up to three hours a week
as to complement her running.
Beginning at age 4, Hasay ran
for fun as a youngster with her mother.
During a fourth grade gym
class she realized that she was faster than the boys.
"I beat all the
boys," said Hasay. "The coach asked me to join the [track] team. In my
first race (the mile) I almost won. I lost by one second. I didn't know you had
to strain at the end."
Later her 4th grade
year she ran a 6:16 mile defeating the field, which included seventh and eighth
graders.
She gets her strength from
running 45 to 50 miles per week during the season and 60 in the off season. She
also swims about three hours per week and lifts light weights frequently.
 "I
just love [running] and really like to challenge myself and work toward
goals," Hasay said. "I like the hills and I like the cold. I don't run
well in the heat at all. It's usually cold in [Arroyo Grande] and I run in the
morning."
Her Mission Prep coach,
Armando Siqueiros, a doctor and national-class marathon runner, knew he had
something special when he first saw her. "She is a very bright young lady.
Everything I give her, she absorbs like a sponge. Her composure is just
phenomenal. I don't think anybody pushes Jordan. Jordan pushes Jordan."
Hasay plans make
her international debut in the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech
Republic.
Kenny Cress, Sports Writer for the Santa Maria, California Times in a
copyrighted story reported on
July 4 that
Hasay was unsure if she will
go short (1,500 meters) or long (3,000) in the biggest meet of her spectacular
young career.
The Arroyo Grande resident
and Mission Prep junior-to-be was set to run the 3,000 on opening day, July
11, of the IAAF World Youth Championships at Ostrava, Czech Republic, her
international debut. That was before June 23 when she became the fastest
15-year-old 1,500 meter runner in the world this year.
Hasay won the U.S. Junior
Nationals 1,500 going away in 4:16.98 at Indianapolis that day. That time,
which would have been good for sixth place at the 2007 NCAA Division I
championships, put her fourth all-time on the U.S. prep girls 1,500 list.
The time also put her third
amongst the 2007 girls youth leaders at press time. Emebt Etea of Ethiopia has
run 4:08.50. Fellow Ethiopian Utura Sule has run 4:13.42. Ling Zhang of China
set the world record of 3:54.52 in 1997.
At press time the world
youth girls leaders' 3,000 times ranged from the 9:06.33 of Kenyan Felista
Wanjuga to 9:18.51. Hasay ran 9:26.32 last year. She has not run a 3,000 this
year.
Not all of the world leaders
will necessarily be at World Youth meet and, “I might wait until I see the
start lists to decide which race I'm in,” Hasay said in a phone interview
earlier this week.
“I probably won't see the
start lists until I get over there.”
At least Hasay knows she can
switch races if she wants to. In the spring, the USATF only invited Hasay to
run the 3,000 for the U.S. at Ostrava. However, “They called me the day of
the (Junior Nationals) race and asked if I wanted to run the 1,500.”
Hasay has one stop before
the World Youth meet. That is the USATF Youth Nationals which began Tuesday at
Benedictine University in the Chicago suburb of Lisle.
She will run in the 1,500.
Preliminaries are at 8 a.m. PDT Friday. Event finals are at 8:45 a.m. PDT
Sunday.
Hasay had said USATF
officials wanted team members to run an event each at the USATF Youth meet to
make sure they are fit.
She acknowledged she
surprised herself with her time at Indy.
“I didn't hear the splits,
didn't look at the scoreboard,” that flashed the times as the race went
along, she said.
“When I looked up at the
scoreboard and saw my time (at the end of the race), I was pretty surprised.
“I'm real excited. It was
great to have such a nice win. There were a lot of great girls in the race. We
all pushed each other, so we all ran fast.”
Hasay finished nearly four
seconds ahead of runner-up Jessica Pixler, a college freshman. Graduated New
Jersey High School senior Danielle Tauro was in the lead with Hasay with 300
meters left, but Tauro faded to sixth. Tauro defeated Hasay in the 2006 Nike
Outdoor Nationals women's mile.
Hasay had planned to try to
qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 5,000, a race she has never run on
the track. She's re-thinking her strategy now.
Her Indy time put her well
under the Trials 1,500 “B” qualifying standard of 4:19.50. The field size
for the 2008 trials is 30.
The “A” standard is
4:10. If not enough runners make the “A” standard, “B” standard meters
will be invited to fill out the field.
If runners were chosen
strictly by best time, Hasay would be in the 1,500 if the Olympic Trials were
held today. At press time, she had the 29th fastest 2007 women's 1,500 time in
the U.S. Only 25 U.S. 1,500 runners have been faster than Hasay this year.
Still, “I will try to get
in some 5,000s so I can just try a bunch of races,” Hasay said. “I'll
concentrate on cross country first, but then I'll try to get into some 5,000s.
“It's hard - there aren't
many 5,000s for high school runners. I may have to get in (one for) open or
college runners. It's a relief to know I've met a standard in one event.”
After the Ostrava meet,
Hasay will have some time to reflect on her place in history among the
greatest U.S. prep female distance runners. She has four national titles (two
in track, two in cross country), and she's not a junior yet.
Only Kim Gallagher (4:16.6),
Francie Larrieu and Polly Plumer (both 4:18.8) have run faster U.S. girls prep
1,500's than Hasay has. Hasay broke the sophomore class record of Suzy Favor,
one of the best U.S. women's distance runners ever, at Indianapolis.
Her time also beat Lynn
Jennings' high school mark of 4:18.06. Jennings won 39 career national titles,
in various track, road and cross country races.
“It's really an honor to
be up there amongst all of them,” said Hasay. “It's really cool.”
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