After seven years of competing in both short distance and long distance, there is one race that makes Jake Puusalu nervous.

For Puusalu, a freshman on the Syracuse track and field team, mastering the 400-meter dash is his primary focus. The 400-meter dash is more than just a lap around the track. The race is a combination of both speed and endurance.

Puusalu’s began track in seventh grade, when he decided he should join a sport so he could compete with his friends. Ever since, running has been his primary focus.

He realized that at a sectional meet in high school when he was running in a 4-by-4 relay against a rival with the state meet on the line. Puusalu was the anchor.

‘When they handed off to me at the turn-over the guy from the other team was probably 50 meters ahead of me, but I chased him down,’ Puusalu said. ‘We raced head-to-head until the finish line and I beat him. I got my team to states.’

Puusalu is specifically promising because of his background with endurance. In high school, Puusalu competed in both track and cross country. He decided to do cross country because he was getting restless having to wait until the track season. Once the high school track season started his coach placed him in different events from the 100-meter sprint to the mile.

The endurance, which he acquired in cross-country, helps him significantly competing in the 400-meter in college.

‘He can run all day long with a good speed coming out of him,’ SU track and field assistant coach Dave Hegland said. ‘He doesn’t have a problem with the harder workouts. People are pretty surprised when they see him because he looks like he’d be a miler.’

A few technical improvements like posture are all that stand in between Puusalu and becoming an all-star athlete, Hegland said.

‘Jake is definitely very focused on what he’s going to do here,’ Hegland said. ‘He’s very coachable and someone I don’t have to remind if I tell him something. In a couple of years, he’ll be pretty good. He’s already strong, but we just have to get him faster.’

‘Jake’s dedication to anything he pursues is legendary in our family.’ said Puusalu’s mother, Lisa Zobel. ‘He’s really good at setting small goals to accomplish his bigger goal, and I think that has carried out into his running. He has great focus and a single-minded determination where it needs to be.’

The freshness of starting on a new team and racing new athletes may have taken a toll on the nervousness, which he thought he left years ago.

Once Puusalu reaches the level both he and his coach know he’s capable of, he’ll have a promising chance to accomplish his goals. With Puusalu, nervousness about running the 400-meter dash is no challenge because soon the only thing in sight will be the finish line.

‘Everyone in my family knows I’ll probably be running until I’m placed in a wheelchair,’ Puusalu said. ‘Running has changed my attitude on life and my work ethic. If I never started running, I probably wouldn’t be so willing to be determined and focused or disciplined to get stuff done.’

Published on April 2, 2006 at 12:00 pm