Cal State San Marcos junior sprinter Rasha Badrani joined the cross-country team as a freshman at San Pasqual High School in Escondido to lose weight.
“I hated cross country; it was awful,” Badrani remembered.
Seven years later, the girl who didn’t like to run has sprinted to a national championship.
Badrani won the 400 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center.
“It feels unreal,” Badrani told The Coast News. “Winning a national title is something I’ve always dreamt about. I never thought I was capable of achieving it. It feels good that all the hard work my coach and I put in has paid off.”
Badrani tied her personal best of 52.92 seconds, crossing the finish line 0.28 seconds ahead of runner-up Peace Nwaelehia from West Texas A&M.
After a sluggish start off the blocks, she completed the first lap in the two-lap sprint in 25.50 seconds — the slowest in her heat. Badrani surged in the second lap, recording the fastest split of 27.42 seconds.
CSUSM track and field assistant coach Anthony Heredia, who leads the sprinters and hurdlers, wanted Badrani to start the race at a faster pace.
“It was scary,” Badrani said. “I got out and realized I was 50 meters behind [the other runners]. I knew as the race went by I’d be able to pick them off one by one. Towards the end it was just sprinting and I gave it everything I had left.”
“She tends to be a little slower out of the blocks and stronger coming home,” head coach Torrey Olson added. “It makes for very exciting races. It is hard to move past people indoor. There is the conventional race model, but then there are the athletes and their strengths. It would have been ideal to be out a little bit faster but at the same time that’s the way competitions end up. She did not panic, and she did a great job responding to the situation.”
During the warmups, Badrani said she envisioned the race: getting out of the blocks and cutting in, finishing the first lap, and repeating the race strategy in her head.
“I wanted to stay with them and that didn’t go according to plan,” Badrani said. “I stayed calm. In the last 100 I told myself to stay big and open in my strides. A lot of people get small and that’s what costs them time.”
Badrani is the only female runner at the Division II level to record a time under 53 seconds this season, placing her eighth on the all-time Division II list. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named her a first-team All-American.
“She holds herself to a super high standard across the board,” Olson said. “With so many athletes who become successful it starts with having that internal drive. She is extremely consistent, dedicated, passionate and sets really high goals for herself. She is not outworked by anybody.”
During the indoor season, Badrani shaved time, improving from 55 to less than 53 seconds in the 400.
“That’s a massive jump at this level,” Olson said. “She is very comfortable looking ahead and setting meaningful and challenging goals and working towards them.”
Badrani arrived back on campus Sunday and was ready for practice Monday.
“She had the option of not coming in on Monday but she said, ‘No I like coming to the lift, I will be there tomorrow,’” Olson said.
“My goal is to keep dropping time,” Badrani added. “I want to compete with the best and win a national title outdoors. I also have my eyes set for worlds [World Athletics Championships] in Tokyo this September.”
Badrani competes internationally for Lebanon’s national team.
“Rasha has room to continue developing physically and mentally,” Olson said. “She’s not the kind of person to be like, ‘Now I did that, I can relax for a while.’ She takes progress and it bolsters her motivation.”
The victory marks the first NCAA national championship for the CSUSM track and field program. Badrani is the second athlete in the school’s history to claim an NCAA title, following Jaime Jacob, who triumphed in the 2019 women’s golf individual championship.
Badrani’s win contributed 10 points to CSUSM’s total, resulting in a tie with Stanislaus State for 19th place in the team standings.
“The support from my coaches and teammates [is something I will always remember,” she said. “I was the only one there and I got videos from the watch party of everyone cheering and screaming me on. It’s the one thing I haven’t been able to forget. Watching how happy my teammates were for me has been my favorite part of this whole thing.”
