Exclusive: How NCAA long-jump champion, Jasmyn Steels, looks beyond season cancellation

“Things happen so you can’t dwell on it so that’s why. dont sit there and dwell on it and maybe take this time to get even more prepared.”

STAY READY, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET READY. That’s all Northwestern’s track all-star, Jasmyn Steels, can do after suffering from a cut season.

“Maybe you thought you were prepared now, but you’re actually not. So, maybe take this time to or maybe if you have any injuries. My sophomore year, I had an ankle problem.. not that my ankle hurts or anything but maybe just straighten it out a little bit and you can tweak a couple of things.”

It’s just been just been over a year since she took the throne as the NCAA Long Jump Champion. Just over a week ago, she was just in Albuquerque, New Mexico, back and better, to defend the title.

“I was actually at the track. I was doing my shake-out by the 60m lanes, you know, we’re all just there.”

Until she got the news.

“And then an official just came up to me (someone I knew for a while) and she just informed me that we were done at the meet and that was it.”

Jasmyn said that during the lead up to the championships she sort of stayed to herself and tuned out as much as she could, but she was very aware of the Coronavirus situation. She knew there were rumblings of other sports witnessing cancellations such as the Southland Men’s Basketball Tournament where the Demons were actually looking forward to a second round. But after getting the news while preparing for her event, it didn’t phase her too much. she understood the circumstances.

“The environment at the track, it didn’t get real sad. We were just like forget it, let’s just have fun with it and started running around. I did a couple of jumps. We were just kind of having fun and then we left.”

The same week she was notified of the cancellations was actually scheduled for the Demons track team outdoor season opener at McNeese State. Now although this was a big blow to her season and others, Jasmyn says that moving forward she’s going to take advantage of another year of eligibility, utilize her free time and overall, remain positive.

“Just take time to enjoy your free time… stay positive, we have a whole season next year, so it’s fine.”