on the Baldwin-Wallace College Track Team
By: Adam Fabrizi, Sports Information Student Assistant
BEREA, OHIO — When the Baldwin-Wallace College track and field team begins competition next year, it will be without one of its standout female sprinters in graduate Jayna Rasmussen. She graduated this spring with a degree in communication disorders and will be entering graduate school at the University of Texas this fall.
Rasmussen, a resident of Westlake and a graduate of Lutheran West High School, competed for four years on the Yellow Jacket track team and earned four varsity letters. She recently ended her career with a solid season, establishing personal bests in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
Rasmussen ran a personal-best time of 12.79 seconds in the 100-meter dash and 26.54 in the 200-meter dash. Her time in the 100 was tied for seventh-best in the Ohio Athletic Conference this year and her time in the 200 was the seventh-best mark. In addition, Rasmussen and the Yellow Jacket 4 x 100 meter relay team won an OAC title, set an OAC Championships meet record and narrowly missed qualifying for the 2005 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet.
"Jayna was a quiet leader," said veteran head coach Dr. Bill Taraschke. "She was an individual who worked very hard and helped to push her teammates to improve every day.
"Every team that wins a championship has a quiet leader who leads by-example," continued Taraschke. "For us, it was Jayna. The other young people in our program saw how hard Jayna worked and then they worked hard to emulate her work habits. We will really miss her quiet leadership and work habits. She made a difference."
Rasmussen began her collegiate career competing in both indoor and outdoor track during her freshman year. Indoors, she competed in the 55-meter and 300-meter dashes. Her best time in the 55-meter dash was 7.74 seconds and she ran a 47.70 seconds in the 300-meter dash. Outdoors, she ran the 100-meter dash in 12.96 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 26.92 seconds. She was a member of the 4x100-meter relay team that garnered All-OAC honors with a third place finish at the 2002 OAC Championship Meet.
"I had to adjust to running an indoor track season because I was used to playing basketball during high school," said Rasmussen. "It took me awhile to adjust to the harder workouts, but I have seen myself become a better runner because of them."
Rasmussen set another personal best in the 300-meter dash indoors as a sophomore, finishing in 45.49 seconds. She also competed outdoors in the spring of 2003 and earned her second letter. A year ago, she was tabbed All-OAC for the second time as a member of the 4x100-meter relay team that finished in third place for the second time in three years. She also competed in the 200-meter dash indoors for the first time as a junior, establishing a best time of 30.19.
"Jayna was especially good at excelling around the curves of the track. To do this, it not only takes great speed but you need to be very strong as well. Because of this, she was an outstanding relay team runner and probably was a little stronger in the relays than she was in the individual races," stated Taraschke, who won his 32nd career OAC Coach of the Year award this spring. He has also led the B-W cross country and track teams to 42 OAC titles during his career.
Rasmussen saved her best season as a collegian for this spring when she set numerous personal bests. Indoors, she ran a best of 7.70 seconds in the 55-meter dash and 46.72 seconds in the 300-meter dash. This past spring, she was a member of the 4x100-meter relay team that won the event at the 2005 OAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and set an All-Ohio record in 48.47. The relay team also ran the fastest time in the OAC this season with a 48.26. Team members included Kara Weaver, Lizz Redd and Lutheran West graduate Mary Griglak.
"A sprinter needs to have a good start, be quick out of the blocks and they need to have good turnover speed," said Rasmussen. "Sprinters need to be powerful and have to concentrate on having good form."
Also at the 2005 OAC Championship Meet, Rasmussen finished eighth in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes with times of 12.93 and 27.81, respectively. Her efforts helped the women’s track team complete a sweep of both the indoor and outdoor conference titles this year.
"Aside from her natural athletic ability, Jayna was a person of integrity," said B-W Sprint Coach and former All-American Craig Braithwaite. "She was always dependable and willing to go above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty."
Rasmussen was part of a storied track program. The Yellow Jacket women’s team has won 15 of the last 18 OAC titles and seven of the last 10. They also finished in second place in 1995 and 2003. The Baldwin-Wallace women have won seven straight championships on two separate occasions during that time, with the first time spanning 1988-1994 and the other 1996-2002.
In 2004, she was a recipient of the Paul "Sparky" Adams Memorial Track Scholarship.
"Jayna was a first-class student-athlete and was very focused and determined. She was constantly working to make herself better and striving to help the team accomplish our goals," continued Braithwaite.
Rasmussen also contributed to the Baldwin-Wallace community in other ways. She worked for four years in the athletic department office where she gained valuable knowledge and skills and left an impression on those around her.
"Jayna's contribution to the athletic department was outstanding," said B-W Athletics Business Manager Meg Carney, mother of current Air Force Academy and former St. Edward star quarterback and basketball guard Shawn Carney. "Jayna worked for us for four years and her enthusiasm and understanding of athletes has been beneficial to all of us who work in the athletic department.
"She has worked as an equipment manager assistant, an usher at our football games, ticket sales person at basketball and volleyball tournaments and was an assistant to the secretaries. Jayna's work ethic and postive outlook have set the pace for all of the students in our offices. We could always count on Jayna to be on time and complete the tasks given to her. She has a very caring personality and has been recognized by all of our coaches as well as outside sources for her help on projects and requests. We will all miss Jayna's winning ways," continued Carney.
"Those of us that have had the pleasure of working with her have gained a renewed belief in the power of a positive attitude and that those who work hard are eventually rewarded," Carney stated.
During her days at Lutheran West, she earned four varsity letters in track. She also played four years of basketball, earning three letters, and two letters in soccer. Rasmussen was a first-team All-MAC-8 selection in basketball as a senior and was tabbed second-team all-conference in track and field in 2001.
"I have no doubt that Jayna will be successful in graduate school and all of her future endeavors. She has tremendous goal orientation and an outstanding work ethic," stated Taraschke.
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