Collegiate Record For BYU’s Andersen

It wasn’t until the final water jump that Kassi Andersen of BYU took the lead in the steeplechase at the 2003 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.

Andersen’s sprint to the finish not only gave her a seemingly easy victory, but her time of 9:44.95 set a new meet and collegiate record.

Though the steeplechase was a new event for Andersen, it came in an event where success was nothing new to BYU – Elizabeth Jackson (2001) and Michaela Mannova (2002) had done the same thing for the Cougars in the NCAA’s first two women’s editions of the event.

Still, for Andersen to even consider the event took some prodding by USTFCCCA Hall of Fame coach Patrick Shane, who envisioned her running over barriers back when he recruited the local Provo 800/1500-meter high school state champion.

Convincing Andersen to try the event was a challenge, and it didn’t get easier for Shane after Andersen won the 2002 national U20 1500-meter title as a freshman and then was a top-10 finisher on the Cougars’ NCAA championship cross country team.

But, somehow, Andersen not only tried the event — but became enamored with it. She ran a PR in all four of her meets that year, starting with a win at the Mt. SAC Relays in a debut 10:05.73.

“It’s something different, and you always have to be thinking out there because you’re always going over something,” Andersen related about the steeplechase to Jason Franchuk of the Provo Daily Herald after another PR two weeks later. “It’s not like the other events, where you’re just running.”