Jasmine Staebler earns First Team All-American honors

Jasmine Staebler of Guttenberg, a student at Iowa State University, became an All-American during her first trip to the NCAA Division I National Championship Event at Texas A&M, qualifying in the preliminaries on Friday, March 10, and running the final race on Saturday, March 11.

The Iowa State University sophomore placed sixth in the 800 meter run at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, March 11, in College Station Texas (Texas A&M) to earn first team All-American accolades. Staebler became the 11th Iowa State runner to earn All-American honors in the women’s 800.

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The following report is reprinted with permission from the March 12 issue of the Iowa State Daily student newspaper.

By Kyle Heim

Collegiate running is quick to give second chances, but it won't pause to celebrate success.

Jasmine Staebler cleared the first hurdle of qualifying for the NCAA Championships, a feat she didn't think was possible heading into the indoor season. 

And she didn't perform too shabby for a newcomer at the meet, not only qualifying for the finals of the 800 but also passing two runners enroute to a sixth-place finish and First Team All-American honors.

"It was definitely really fast," Staebler said. "The girls went out really hard, so I was just trying to hang in there and keep up and not lose focus on the race. ... It's hard when you're in the back to stay involved because you're not right up there with all the initial moves that are going on. But I really tried to hang in there with the girls, make sure I didn't fall out too much."

Now comes the second hurdle: Sustaining and building upon that success in a small window of time.

A year ago, it would have taken some scrolling to find Staebler's name among the list of athletes with the top times in the 800-meter run. Heading into the 2016 NCAA Indoor National Championships, she was ranked 34th in the event, 18 spots away from a qualifying time. 

Refining that search to just freshmen, however, would have provided some insight into what Staebler would be capable of accomplishing during her sophomore season.

She was the No. 1 freshman in the event during the 2016 indoor season and had an entire fall cross-country season to build endurance and strength heading into 2017.

Maybe that's why her coach, Andrea Grove-McDonough, was not surprised to see Staebler break the school record in the 800 at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 11. 

"After watching the way she ran that (2:04.81 at the PSU National), it wasn't a very fast race, especially in that third lap they really slowed down a lot and she just closed really hard," Grove-McDonough said. "It was her second fastest 200 of the four. That's an unusual way to run the 800, and it was so effortless.... So I knew the second 800, even with the same effort, would be better. I wasn't surprised at all."

Still, only 13 runners who finished ahead of her in the 800 during the previous indoor season were seniors, meaning she would have to pass at least five runners to qualify for nationals in 2017 as long as no freshmen qualified and no one ranked behind her moved into the top 16. 

Even though Staebler has been to the NCAA Championships, she isn't guaranteed a return. Of the 10 qualifiers who weren't seniors at last year's national meet, four returned for the NCAA Championships this year.