Christen Tucker's always had an explosive start. Now the senior sprinter on the Syracuse track and field team is finally figuring out how to finish. Both ends of the race came together when she won the 60-meter dash in her final home meet last Saturday to qualify for the ECAC Championships on March 4-5.
Surprising it took her four years to get there, considering she was a top sprinter in track-mad California.
It began with that explosive start, which first drew Tony Green's attention. Green, Tucker's track coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, Calif., called Tucker a tiny girl without a lot of experience on the track. But she had an impressive starting speed with which to work.
"For her size, she had more strength than anyone," Green said. "Stack her straight up and she usually comes out on top."
Green watched her toughen up and hit the weight room. By her senior year, she made it to the California state championships, where she finished fifth. Green saw Tucker become one of the best sprinters to come out of Bishop O'Dowd.
Green said he drops his runners off at their homes after the state championship. After Tucker's final run for Green, she was the last one Green dropped off. The player and coach talked until 2 a.m., creating a bond that Green vows to remember.
"Just talking to her, getting to know her, that's my favorite memory," Green said. "I hated to see her go."
As Green watched from thousands of miles away, Tucker headed to SU. She admits she struggled to adjust. Balancing a social life with obligations to the track team proved difficult. Times that she hit with ease in high school escaped her as a collegian.
"My sophomore year, my mind just wasn't in it," Tucker said. "I was so frustrated, not doing so well as I was before."
Green says it's something that happens often, especially with runners who head East. Tucker ran five or six races a season in high school. At SU, she faces a full outdoor and full indoor slate.
As a junior last year, Tucker was forced to sit out three indoor meets because of a hernia. After summer surgery, she hoped to turn it around during her final season. Instead, it was more of the same at Cornell in December.
She ran in 7.85 seconds. At Bishop O'Dowd, her best had been a much swifter 7.55.
"I was so upset that I was stuck in the same place I was freshman year," she said.
With one last shot at the ECAC's on the line, Tucker changed her eating habits and her lifestyle. To the rest of the team, it showed.
"It's like night and day," said Dave Hegland, SU's sprints coach the last two seasons. "She's doing all the little things now."
Tucker admits it has been tough being the only senior sprinter on the women's team, but she's embraced the role. Hegland said she's been a strong influence on the younger sprinters.
"We all really look up to her," teammate and neighbor Keisha Townsend said. "We've seen a different side of Christen. She took more of a leadership role."
Now, Tucker is focusing on the end of her career at the ECAC's next month after she failed to make the finals at the Big East Championships last week. The ECAC is the top tournament in the Northeast.
With two weeks to prepare, Green said the veteran should be ready.
"She's an adult now," Green said, "and understands when she needs to rest and recover."
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