By Kim Holm
Coming off his win Friday night at the Oregon Twilight Meet in the 400-meter hurdles with a time 50.88 seconds, Jordin Andrade is working on his pacing for this season. Finishing in second place in 52.49, Ryan Rosenau is working on recovering from a minor calf injury.
Both athletes have a lot in common they finished their first Twilight meet at Hayward Field: Both want to improve their performances, and both have to work twice as hard off the track to stay in the game.
Originally from Seattle, Andrade coaches track at West Seattle High School while training for his own track meets as well. Rosenau helps coach the hurdlers at Southern Oregon University while training for his own track meets.
They are among many athletes who have to struggle with supporting themselves financially while training full time.
Andrade doesn’t stop with the coaching, Recently, he got his real-estate license–one of the many things he has to do in order to support his track career.
Andrade won a silver medal in the 2015 NCAA outdoor championships. “Being a silver medalist is for the rest of my life—I knew I was always more than just a walk-on,” said Andrade, who also represented Cape Verde at the 2016 Olympics.
“I wanted to represent my family first—I’m an American and I’ll always be an American, but I wanted to be able to represent them, while being a part of an Olympic team.”
This season Andrade has a goal of sub-49 in the 400 hurdles. “It just kills me that I can’t break through that barrier yet,” he said.
To get there, he’s working on changing the number of steps between hurdles.
Just behind him in the 400 hurdles, Rosenau walked off the track with a crumpled up bib and talked about his first track experience, and compared it to his first one.
“I had my first track meet when I was 9 years old, and my sisters took my bib and crumpled it up—it’s become a tradition since then,” said Rosenau, who has been running the 400 hurdles since his senior year at Southern Oregon University.
This is Rosenau’s first meet in three weeks, and his first time racing at Hayward Field. Rosenau was suffering from a hip-flexor problem, but it didn’t bother him when he almost beat his PR by half a second.
“I love the hurdles because they distract me—it’s not as painful—it’s a race to get to the next hurdle,” said Rosenau.
Both Andrade and Rosenau are looking forward to the Twilight meet next week in Portland, where they can work on their personal goals for this upcoming season.
