Ashley Caldwell is overflowing with confidence these days.
And why not?
The UCLA sophomore is running better than she ever has before.
Caldwell, who failed to even qualify for the finals at the West
Regionals a year ago, could be a dark horse in the 800 meters at
the NCAA Championships next week in Austin, Texas.
Just two weeks after winning the event at the Pac-10
Championships, Caldwell took second place at the West Regionals on
Saturday in a personal-best mark of 2:05.01.
“It helps big time going into the national meet knowing
that I can run that time,” said Caldwell, whose personal
record has hovered around the 2:07 mark all season.
“As good as that race felt, I definitely feel like I can
dip down even further.”
Perhaps the most consistent of UCLA’s young
middle-distance corps, Caldwell has steadily improved all season.
After placing sixth at the Pac-10 Championships last season,
Caldwell enjoyed a breakthrough redshirt freshman season in cross
country and has helped make up for the absence of All-American Lena
Nilsson.
Where Caldwell could really help ease the loss of Nilsson is at
the NCAA Championships next week. If she could sneak into the top
eight in the 800m, it could be crucial to UCLA’s national
title hopes.
“She’s going to be hard to handle,” UCLA
distance coach Eric Peterson said. “We’ve seen kids
like (former All-Americans) Ysanne Williams and Tiffany Burgess run
like this. She’s every bit as ready as they were.”
That’s high praise for Caldwell, who has set her sights on
making the finals next week. She easily kicked past the leaders in
the final 200m at the regionals Saturday, only to be passed by
Nevada’s Kali Baker ““ a mistake she has pledged not to
make again.
“I didn’t really feel that girl coming up behind
me,” she said.
Making the 800m finals won’t be easy for Caldwell, who has
the 13th fastest time out of the 28 women who have declared. Having
broken her personal record in her last two races, Caldwell
certainly is not putting any limits on herself.
“If I did that, I might not have been the Pac-10 champion
or even qualified for nationals,” Caldwell said.
“I’m a lot more mature this season. I’m ready to
see what I can do.”