BATON ROUGE – While Lady Tiger junior Cassandra Tate has emerged as a national championship contender in the 400-meter hurdles with her performance this season, Sports Illustrated has featured her in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of its May 2 issue available on newsstands now.
Tate, a product of Loranger High School in Hammond, La., is one of the up-and-coming talents in the 400 hurdles in the United States as she currently owns the No. 2-ranked performance in the NCAA this season with a personal-best time of 56.31 seconds set at the LSU Alumni Gold on April 23.
Tate’s emergence is impressive considering she has only competed in the 400-meter hurdles for little over a year, making her debut in the event at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Miami on April 10, 2010.
During that time, she has run the race just 11 times while setting a personal best of 56.31 nine days ago at the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge. Her performance slashed more than a half second off her previous PR of 56.87 set in qualifying for the national semifinal at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in 2010.
“My transition to the 400 hurdles was a little difficult last year. It was a new event for me and I was really learning more about the event each race I ran,” Tate said. “This year, it’s been a lot easier for me. I feel like I’ve found my race pattern, and I’m a lot more confident going into each race. Coach (Dennis Shaver) and I have been working on me focusing on each hurdle and attacking each one as it comes.
“It was actually Coach Shaver’s idea to have me tryout the hurdles. He said I could be really successful in the event. I just have a lot more confidence and faith in myself. I’ve put in the hard work, and I’m determined to have a more successful year than I did at this time last season.”
The reigning SEC Outdoor champion has struck gold in all four 400-meter hurdles finals in which she has appeared during her junior season. She has also improved her 2011 seasonal best in each appearance after running at the LSU Tiger Relays (57.84), LSU Invitational (57.25), Hurricane Alumni Invitational (57.02) and LSU Alumni Gold (56.31) en route to four-straight victories.
Also a three-time All-American in the 4×400-meter relay, Tate ran a team-low 51.50-second split to guide the Lady Tigers to a third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Tate trails only North Carolina’s LaToya James (55.83) on the NCAA list for 2011 as she prepares for her title defense at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships set to run in two weeks. The University of Georgia will play host to the event from May 12-15 at Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga.