Jodie Young was 'excellent collegiate athlete'

(Jodie Young will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor along with Mark Adams, Kirby Dunn, Daniel Franklin, Serenity King, Kristina Edwards Lee, Joe Lombard, Dr. Claude Lusk, and Don Christa & Caren Smith during ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 in the Laney Center. Ray Murphree will be awarded the Harley Redin Coach's Award. A continental breakfast begins at 8:30. The public is invited).

 "Warm, considerate, focused and intelligent" are words Jodie Young's coach at Wayland Baptist, Rick Beelby, used to describe one of the top distance runners in Pioneer cross country/track & field history. But Beelby couldn't stop there. He also said Young was naturally talented, humble, a hard worker and extremely driven. "Jodie was an excellent collegiate athlete," Beelby surmised.

Having competed at Wayland in the mid-1990s, Young's name is sprinkled throughout the pages of Wayland's cross country and track & field record books. Not only does she remain the only four-time cross country all-American – man or woman – in school history, she also excelled on the track, earning 12 all-American honors, winning a national championship in the 3,000 meters, and helping WBU teams to no worse than a sixth-place finish in eight national meets, including the 1994 indoor national title.

Receiving her national championship ring is one of Young's best memories from her time at Wayland, but the fondest were the friends she made. "Wayland had some very supportive, caring people that made my life at Wayland even better. Some of those people would take me home to their families every weekend when we were not competing so that I could have family dinner. That I will always cherish."

A native of the coastal Australian city of Wollongong south of Sydney, Young was a natural athlete at a variety of sports, including BMX racing and surfing. "I grew up 50 meters from the surf and surfed every day for hours," she said.

Young also liked to run, mostly long distances. She started cross country at age 9 and qualified for state without any training. Upon receiving her first formal coaching at age 13, she became a state champion and maintained a top-three ranking in Australian track and cross country throughout high school, competing in international events in places such as Ireland and China.

"In my final year of high school I was awarded a 'State Blue' in cross country, which is the highest honor for sport in New South Wales. It's an award given to one person in one sport for the whole state," Young said.

Her grandfather, she said, was her biggest fan.

"He would wait with open arms at the end of every race with his stopwatch around his neck. My grandfather and grandmother have since passed away. If they knew I was receiving this award and they were alive, my pop would have already booked his flight."

Young said her grandparents and mother "sacrificed financially so that I had every opportunity to become a champion. They supported me financially the whole time I was at Wayland, finally attending my graduation in 1996."

Young, who was discovered in Australia by former Wayland assistant track coach and recruiting coordinator Scott Davis, said she "had a long-term goal of studying university in a different country. Achieving a scholarship to do this made the decision easy to leave Australia."

While it took time to adjust from virtually living on the beach to living in West Texas, Young said the people at Wayland made it easier. She mentioned then Flying Queens coach Sheryl Estes surprising her and taking her to Lubbock to watch the Australian women's basketball team, which was meaningful.

"I made friends quickly with the track team and we had a lot of fun over the four years."

She and the Pioneers also got a great deal accomplished.

At her first NAIA national competition, Young placed 13^th at the national cross country meet, running a time of 19 minutes, 30 seconds. She placed higher each of the next three years, moving up to 11^th (18:17), eighth (18:14) and finally, as a senior in 1995, third (18:30). It's still the second-highest finish for a Wayland runner at nationals, behind Rosa Ibarra's second-place showing the year before in 1994.

Young's best time as a Pioneer, 17:42, came at the district meet in 1993 her sophomore season. It ranks 13^th on Wayland's all-time list, and for her career Young owns six of the top 50 times in WBU cross country history.

Young and Ibarra, a native of Colombia who was inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor last year, are the two most accomplished female distance runners in Wayland history. Their careers at Wayland coincided, but as a team the Pioneers qualified for nationals in cross country just once from 1992-96, finishing 12^th in '93.

Wayland's track and field teams fared much better during those years. At NAIA outdoor national competitions, WBU twice finished third as a team, fourth once and sixth once, while at indoor nationals Wayland had one fifth, two runner-up finishes and, with 80 points, a national title in 1994.

Young fondly recalls competing at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

"I was able to see the snow on the mountains from the athletic fields even though it was summer," she said.

Young and Ibarra, of course, carried the Pioneers in the distance races. Young finished her career with 11 top-eight finishes in a variety of races, including a national title in the 3,000 meters her junior season when she ran a time of 10:05.79. She also finished second nationally twice, both times as part of distance medley relay teams, and placed third individually on four occasions, including three times her senior year – indoors in the 1,000 and the mile, and outdoors in the 1,500.

Young's fastest indoor times were 4:57.07 in the mile, 9:58.36 in the 3,000 and 18:24.73 in the 5,000, while outdoors her top times were 4:28.90 in the 1,500 and 9:56.47 in the 3,000. Coincidentally, all rank as the eighth-best times in school history except the outdoor 3,000, which is fifth.

"Obviously, Jodie had excellent natural ability, but she always worked hard. She showed up every practice ready to do the training. She never complained and always was very focused," Beelby said. "Jodie never bragged or was overly proud of her accomplishments. She took pride in doing a good job in anything she attempted."

Young graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education in 1996. Today, she lives on the harbor in the Sydney suburb of Balmain. After working as a certified personal trainer, for the past 19 years she has taught Personal Development Health Physical Education (PDHPE), currently to high school students at Sydney Secondary College's Blackwattle Campus in Glebe. "Our role is to help students achieve really high marks to be selected at university for their choice of careers," Young said.

She said being inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor is very meaningful. "For me personally it is the greatest honor to be recognized by another country for the hard work and dedication to sport over four years."