TicketsFeb. 20, 2009
By EVAN VICE
So often you hear of small injuries that can surprisingly end an athlete's career, or at least hinder their performance for the rest of their life. That wasn't the case with redshirt sophomore Jasmine Cotten, a member of the UC indoor track and field team who recently broke the school record in the long jump after missing much of the 2008 season.
A foot injury that resulted in surgery, along with a hamstring pull and a hamstring tear, cut short her 2008 campaign.
"My track shoes actually helped cause my foot injury," says Cotten. "Then I pulled my hamstring but still tried to compete. Eventually I tore my hamstring and that was pretty much it."
Cotten was able to redshirt so that she didn't have to lose a year of eligibility to her injury. She went ahead with foot surgery and her season was officially over.
"Losing her for the entire season had a big effect on the team," said women's interim head coach Susan Seaton. "She's a big part of the team. She competes in multiple events and scores a lot of points for us."
Cotten competes in the pentathlon, which consists of the long jump, high jump, shot put, hurdles and the 800-meter run. But the long jump is where she has enjoyed her most recent success.
"I broke the school record in the long jump in our first meet of the season at Indiana University," says Cotten, whose record-breaking jump was recorded at a mark of 6.02 meters (19' 9"). "I was honestly surprised at first that I was able to do it so quickly."
Cotten admits to feeling frustrated for a while, suffering a few setbacks on her way back from injury.
"I was having some trouble bouncing back at first and that frustrated me," she said. "I was putting in a lot of hard work and trying my hardest to not give up, but things weren't coming back to me as quickly as I had hoped. But breaking that record and performing that well early in the season has helped me stay positive, and it has boosted my confidence."
Apart from her record-setting jump in her first meet, Cotten also placed first in the long jump at the BGSU Challenge on Jan. 17 at Bowling Green State University, helping the Bearcats to a first-place overall finish at the challenge.
Coach Seaton isn't surprised by Cotten's early success and thinks she will continue to improve.
"She worked very hard to come back in the offseason," says Seaton. "I'm not surprised at all that she has performed well so quickly. She works hard and she has plenty of room to grow and get better if she continues to work at it. She is very capable of putting up points in the pentathlon that would be amongst the top scores in the country when you combine all of her individual scores. She just has to keep at it. She also worked hard to improve her grades last year and she continues to surround herself with good people. It also works to her advantage that she has an assistant coach like Chris Wineberg to help her get better."
Wineberg is an assistant coach for UC women's and men's track teams and he specializes in coaching sprinters and multi-event athletes. Wineberg was an NCAA all-American in 2004 at UC, as well as a two-time conference champion in the decathlon.
"Chris helps out a lot," says Cotten. "He's like a second father figure to us. He puts in so much of his time to help us get better and he's always there when you need him to be. He helped me stay positive when I was trying to come back from my injury and he really helped keep my confidence level high." While Cotten is feeling healthier with each passing week, she still admits to feeling some discomfort from her injuries.
"I'm still having to deal with a few recurring injuries," she says. "I haven't been able to sprint in awhile, and Coach Seaton still doesn't want me to sprint in the upcoming meets. I plan to sprint though. I'm always trying to stay positive."
(This story was previously printed in the Bearcat Sports Digest.)