An Aggie All-American
Focused, Chari Hawkins launched herself into a small pit of sand, executing her long jump landing with skilled precision.
On that warm April afternoon, coach Ryan Grinnell studied Hawkins’ technique through a pair of darkened sunglasses, at times offering her bits of technical advice as she repeated the exercise again and again. Hawkins smiled the whole time.
The scene is a pleasant display of the persistence and determination necessary to be exceptional in any track and field event. But Hawkins doesn’t compete in just one event.
She competes in seven.
Hawkins is a heptathlete, a competitor who participates in a grueling, two-day series of events including the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump, the long jump, the shot put, the 200-meter dash, the javelin throw and the 800-meter.
“The more you do it, the more your body gets used to it. It’s almost like your body knows it’s not done yet,” Hawkins said. “But when I was a freshman I remember being so tired after the first day it felt like I’d been hit by a bus.”
Hawkins, though still with an entire outdoor season in front of her, recently received one of just two invitations extended to heptathletes in the country to represent Team USA in the World University Games in July.
“I was so excited. I got a text message, and I was like ‘I don’t … I don’t get this. I don’t think this is real,'” Hawkins said. “I still want to do the best I can at nationals and compete to the best of my ability at conference and just try to knock out what I have coming up.”
The Rexburg native wasn’t always a multi-event athlete — or even particularly interested in track — until a couple of seventh-grade friends invited her to try out for the team.
“I remember I was in the girls’ locker room after PE, and they were like, ‘Hey do you want to go to track today?’” Hawkins said. “I was like, ‘No, what is wrong with you? Who wants to go to track?’”
After learning from her friends that track included more than just running events, Hawkins — already an athlete involved in basketball, volleyball and gymnastics — began her track career. She didn’t know it at the time, but her involvement in track and field would ultimately lead her to shatter records, earn multiple All-American honors and an invitation to the World University Games.
It would also lead her to run, occasionally.
“I got older. They made me run a little bit,” Hawkins said laughing, “and I hated it, but it turned out to be fun. Here I am seven years later. Ten years later? Oh, that’s gross.”
Hawkins was a state champion in each of her three high school events: the long jump, high jump and hurdles, which had USU coaches thinking she was cut out for the heptathlon before she’d so much as heard of the multi-event.
“They just told me, ‘Oh yeah it has your three events in there. You’ll do really good at it,’” Hawkins said.
Working closely with Hawkins for the past year, coach Grinnell noted Hawkins’ cheery attitude complimented her tough mentality.
“She’s always got a bubbly personality,” Grinnell said. “She enjoys coming to practice. I think that’s why she’s been so successful. She puts in the same amount of work here in practice that she does in competition.”
Grinnell’s responsibilities include creating training plans to prepare Hawkins for meets without wearing her down as well as helping her focus on individual events such as the multi-event’s finale — the 800 meter.
“It’s all guts. It’s all glory, anything you got left in the tank,” Grinnell said. “After two days of competition, six events down, here’s the seventh. We just get in the zone, talk about anything but the 800.”
Hawkins, lighthearted even when under intense pressure, explained her mentality when nearing the end of the competition.
“If you have a lot left, you tend to train your body to say, ‘No, no, we’re not done yet,'” she said. “Then when it’s all said and done you kind of just try to slip into something more comfortable, like a coma or something.”
Heading into her final outdoor season, the senior already owns Utah State’s heptathlon record with a score 5,732 points, set earlier this month at the Mt. SAC Relays. However, of all her many accomplishments, Hawkins still beams at the mention of one particular benchmark.
“I remember last year when I jumped my six-foot jump, the only event I did that day was high jump, and it was the first time I’ve ever cleared six feet,” Hawkins said, grinning. “That was probably my most proud moment just because that was something I could see the improvement, and it was right there. There was a bar right up there.”
In addition to proud moments, the self-proclaimed “natural klutz” has her share of embarrassing stories to tell.
“Track is literally exerting all of your force to something at one time, and if you’re not completely focused on that event and you slip in something, you’re going to fall,” Hawkins said. “There’s been countless times I’ve slipped and not even landed on the high-jump mat.”
Of all the many skills that make Hawkins a special athlete, maintaining a sense of humor may be the most unique — and the most important.
“When it happens you just have to say, ‘Whoops,’ and laugh at yourself,” Hawkins said. “If you don’t learn to laugh at yourself during track, then you’re kind of in trouble because track is physically and mentally exhausting. So if you can’t find time to have fun, you’re not going to go anywhere with it.”
Hawkins’ sense of humor hasn’t gone unnoticed. Utah State’s head track and field coach Gregg Gensel praised Hawkins for leading the rest of the team, citing her example as one of an athlete who understands what it takes to be a great competitor.
“She’s a multiple-time All-American. We’ve only had a few of those on the women’s side,” Gensel said. “There’s no one that has a bigger heart than her. She’s willing to lay it all on the line for the team.”
A season full of expectations, exhausting competition and at least a few more practice-landings in the sand pit lay ahead for Chari Hawkins, but none of these things will come close to shaking her focus — or her signature smile.
— logantjones@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @logantj