Jasmine Sanford prepares to run for gold

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January 11, 2012

Caleb Slinkard The Commerce Journal The Commerce Journal Wed Jan 11, 2012, 05:57 PM CST

Commerce — Most college graduates are happy to simply celebrate their educational and athletic accomplishments after working hard for four or more years, but Jasmine Sanford will be taking on the hardest challenge of her life: qualifying for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Sanford, who recently graduated from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, is training in Commerce with Texas A&M University-Commerce assistant track and field coach Ranard Adkison. Adkison coached Sanford at Southwest Baptist.

“When she ran for me, she was also a basketball player,” Adkison said. “I felt like she didn’t reach her full potential while I was there. We stayed in contact after I left the university, and she told me about her plans to run post-collegiately.”

Adkison invited Sanford, who made it to nationals on the 4x1 team and qualified provisionally in the 100 meters, to train in Commerce. Sanford moved to the city in October of this year.

“I wasn’t ready to give up running,” Sanford said. “I didn’t want to look back 10 years later and say ‘what if.’ I’m extremely nervous, but I’m also excited.”

Sanford played basketball for all four years in high school and ran track until she was forced to undergo foot surgery. Her mother, who attended all of her high school games, passed away early in her first semester at Southwest Baptist, so Sanford lost her love of basketball.

“She was my number one fan and she was at every high school game, so that’s what I wanted for college,” she said. “I just didn’t have fun anymore with basketball, but I didn’t want to give up athletics. I ended up going for the track team and fell in love with it.”

Sanford ran for Southwest for three semesters before graduating. She and Adkison have a schedule of indoor meets that she will compete in before the Olympic trials and plan to have a list of outdoor meets to compete in by February. Most of the indoor track meets will take place in Texas, with several of the outdoor meets to take her as far away as California.

One of Sanford’s inspirations is Carmelita Jeter, who is the fastest woman in the world after winning the 2011 USA outdoor 100 meter race. Jeter has only recently begun to make waves in the scene and is a Division II product, like Jasmine.

In order to automatically qualify for the Olympic trials, Sanford has to post an ‘A standard’ time of 11:42 during one of the meets. If she posts a ‘B standard” time of 11:48, she might be invited to the trials if there aren’t enough A standard times.

At the Olympic trials, the top three runners advance to the Olympics. The 2012 Olympics will be held in London.

After she is finished running, Sanford plans to become an athletic director.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “I want to start in Division II and work my way up to Division I.”

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