Tuesday, May 30 was a pretty special day in the collegiate track-and-field world.
On that Tuesday, 253 men representing 87 different institutions earned a total of 305 NCAA Division II All-America honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Fresh off copping a fifth consecutive-and 16th overall-D-II national outdoor team title three calendar days before, Saint Augustine's (Raleigh, N.C.) University claimed a third-most 14 such recipients to conclude the 2017 campaign.
Lincoln University of Missouri boasted 16 men's All-Americans, with Grand Valley State (Allendale, Mich.) University totaling 15 and Grand Junction-based Colorado Mesa University...
Well, not that many.
But for the first time, Mesa Maverick senior and Bayfield High School alumnus John Cusick was one.
And a First Team All-American at that.
"I think about it still - it's been almost two weeks - but it hasn't really felt any different," he commented Tuesday afternoon. "I'm actually at home in Bayfield right now, and I'm just kind of.hanging out - I don't have to run - but it's a pretty cool accomplishment! Something that we aimed for from the beginning, when I transferred to Colorado Mesa, my first meeting with my coach; was to try and win a national championship, and I think we gave it our best shot this year."
Competing in the season's final 1,500-meter run at about 3:45 p.m. Mountain on Day 3 of the NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, co-hosted May 25-27 in Bradenton, Florida, by the University of Tampa and IMG Academy, Cusick finished a full-throttle fourth place with a time of three minutes, 50.70 seconds.
"I think the result speaks for itself, I guess," he said. "I'm pretty pumped, to say the least!"
During the race he'd dropped as low as eighth, the worst he could have done to still be a First Team selection, in the deciding 12-runner field. But between 700 and 1,100 meters he surged to as high as third before Northwest Missouri State University senior Ryan Cox squeaked past at the line with a 3:50:57.
"It was a pretty close race," Cusick said. "It wasn't super fast; I'd ran that same time in prelims, and we kind of knew it was probably going to be the same type of race in the finals. We planned to cover about any move anybody made, and I put myself in really good position, covered moves when I had to."
Western Oregon University junior David Ribich worked his way to the front by the 700-meter mark and remained ahead to win in 3:49.64, with Cal State-Chico junior Kyle Medina second in 3:49.86.
"It really was just who had it the last fifty meters!" he remembered. "I'm pretty sure we all hit a wall, but by the time we hit 50 meters the top four had been decided. I was worried I was going to get caught on that last hundred meters; I was just hoping I could hang on and maybe do something special."
Given Cox's finish, it's easy to deduce how close Cusick was to the ultimate prize.
And how consistently close; on Day 1, in the event's second of two qualifying heat races, Cusick had finished fifth out of 10 entrants (and 20 total including Ribich, who clocked 3:51.85 in Heat 1) with a 3:50.78-only 0.02 slower than Western Oregon sophomore Dustin Nading in fourth, and only 0.57 behind Cox in first.
"I consider fourth place a pretty big accomplishment, based off recent years and stuff I've been through," stated Cusick, whose time at CMU ended with not only an All-America distinction, but degrees in business marketing as well as mass communications. "I was pretty excited about it."
Joining the former Wolverine in achieving First Team All-America status from CMU was sophomore Nolan Ellis, who placed eighth in the pole vault on Day 1 with a 16'7.25" best.
Cusick indicated his future plans are wide-open, but that running can't be ruled out.
"I'm probably looking to go to California and find a job," he said. "But I think at the same time I'm going to continue trying to run; I think there's a lot of potential that I still have. I definitely miss it already, so I think competition would be really fun."
FINDING AN EXTRA GEAR: Preceding the NCAA's, Cusick had clocked a fifth-place 4:03.46 in the 1,500 prelims at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's outdoor championships (May 7-9 at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison), then finished third in the final with a 4:06.48.
RMAC champ (in 4:05.01) Evan Verbal, a senior at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, finished just 11th (3:55.24) in Florida, with Chadron, Neb., State senior Alejandro Garcia-sixth at the RMACs in 4:08.65-trailing in 12th (3:56.76).
CRUSHING CONSISTENCY: Based on team finishes at the D-II Cross-Country Championships, as well as the Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Adams State University kept the Damon Martin Division II Men's Program-of-the-Year Award in Alamosa for a ninth straight year. Fellow RMAC members Western State Colorado placed sixth in the points-accumulated table, with CSU-Pueblo seventh and Colorado School of Mines tenth.
Alamosa junior Austin Anaya finished ninth in the 1,500 final in Florida with a 3:53.39.
