Washington State's top 400-meter hurdler Jeshua Anderson, junior from California, is coming off his second-place finish at the NCAA meet with his head held high and is focused on a busy track schedule this summer. With the USA Championships coming up next in Des Moines, Iowa, Anderson is looking to continue rolling into a European circuit to sample the professional athlete life. With a sub-48 performance on his mind, it will be exciting to see how the former-football player can complete this outdoor track season.

Can you talk about the NCAA 400-meter hurdle final?

For me, it went good. I got out hard. It was a pretty rough wind on the back stretch. I felt like I had control of my race. I race the race the way I wanted to aside from coming off the last turn and coming off the last hurdle eight, I had too much turnover coming off and it surprised me that I came up on my alternate leg. It's something that I haven't' been practicing, because I usually go 13 strides through nine or 10. I've been doing that this whole year. The wind took a lot out of me. I wasn't tired after hurdle eight. I felt good about the race. I think I beat myself. I'm really not mad at all and I'm happy for my friend Johnny to come out with the wind. I wouldn't like it any better. One and two is good for me.

Did you stutter-step after you came off on your alternate leg?

Yeah, I had to try to quicken up the step. Usually I try to run 13 strides, but once I got there, it was like I was at 13 and half. I had to quicken up my turnover and go over 14 with my alternate leg. Making a little mistake like that can cost you. That's something that I'll continue to learn with new things and I'm starting to get closer and closer to perfecting my race, which is something that I'm pretty happy with.

Was the wind the reason you ran slower in the final than you did in the prelim?

The wind and coming off with my alternate leg. I came off that hurdle off balance and then it takes a few strides for me to get back on track and start running again. I lost a lot of momentum coming off hurdle nine. I didn't really have anything coming off into the next hurdle. It was basically like stopping and starting again, to get running again. I didn't have momentum, having to make that adjustment. I was prepared, but usually I'd be thinking that I had to go with me alternate leg instead of thinking that I'd go with my regular leg. I don't feel bad about my race at all. Second place is good for me. It keeps me grounded and staying humble, trying to work harder. I'm just getting ready for USAs and hopefully I'll be perfecting my race by then and come out with a time that I'm pretty sure I could run—which is hopefully a sub-48 performance.

If you perfect your race, that's a sub-48 effort?

I think I'm in shape enough to do it. I've been working hard enough to do it and get there. There's just got to be a superb effort and a clean race. I'm happy that I get a chance to run with those elite athletes. Sometimes, you know, you get this idols that you think of who you want to be like or who you look out for on TV. Then, being able to run against the best in the world, is an honor for me. I'm happy to be able to get another chance to go down to USAs and learn from the mistakes I've made in the years before and run even better.

Which name do you hold in higher regard: Kevin Young or Kerron Clement?

(Laughs) Well, Kevin Young has the world record and usually I'll try to pattern my style with Edwin Moses, Kevin Young and Danny Harris. Seeing that I've run against Kerron Clement, Angelo Taylor, Bershawn Jackson—those guys are like the top in the world. There's a lot of guys. The USA is stacked with 400 hurdlers. To be even mentioned around and with those names is a blessing. I'll just continue to work hard. I know everyone else is working hard or harder. That's the drive that gets me down to practice and to put my full effort down on the track.

After the Adidas Grand Prix 400 hurdle race, in the post-race interview, Clement and Jackson were joking around and having a good time. Guys like Usain Bolt and Wallace Spearmon are the same way with each other. You mentioned racing with your friend Johhny Dutch. Are you guys like that as well?

On the track, it's all business when we run against each other, but before and after, it's all fun and games for us. We're really good friends. People call it a rivalry. I think it's a friendship as the biggest thing. I'm happy for him to have the success and be able to win a title. Like we've told each other before, we always would like to have it be a “one and two” performance, even though we both want to be number one. It comes down to a winner and a loser. Second place for me is great and I hope to continue to build my resume and win more titles.

You wouldn't call it a rivalry?

It's a rivalry, but more of a friendly rivalry. It's not a hate thing, because we're really good friends off the track. We just hang out together. It's a really good friendly rivalry that we have.

What's the number at USAs that you're looking for? Top three or four?

I set my goals high. I'd like to win. I think for me at this meet, I just want to put on a good show and hopefully get under 48 seconds. That's probably my biggest goal this year. It's not that I'm limiting myself, but I expect myself to run that fast because I've been working that hard.

Overall, with your race aside, what do you think about the meet that Oregon put on?

I think it was great. I think it's a great thing to have NCAAs at Eugene. It's a great crowd and atmosphere. Not just at the track, but also around the town is just track-oriented. Everyone out there loves track and that's why they call it “Tracktown, USA”.

Is it nice for you not to have to travel that far to be there?

It's pretty cool. We didn't fly, we drove down. It took a while to get down there. I enjoy being able to just take a bus ride down instead of on a flight for hours or whatever. It was a nice drive down there. Even though I didn't come out with the outcome I expected, making a minor mistake is really costly. It's something that I've got to work on and I'm glad I got it over with and I'm learning from it now.

What do you have lined up after USAs?

I really want to run overseas. My coach and I are trying to set things up for me to run in Europe and get some more experience out there. I've only run there one time and that was for World Junior Championships. I was able to run pretty well out there. It would be a good experience for me. If I turn pro or something, it would be like a head start for years to come. I may have to run the European circuit. It's something to look forward to and I look forward to going at it this summer.

How much of your football season did you complete last fall?

I went through our camp and played like two games. I almost did three games. I felt my body wearing out. I felt tired. I've been doing it for years, since high school doing both sports. I don't think high school counts though, just because it's a lot easier. It doesn't require as much time down in high school. In college, it really wears you out. And you have school too. My track seasons get prolonged. For me, it's a blessing just because I get a chance to run with some elite athletes. I push hard and work hard to move towards the level of those athletes. I run to about late July then have maybe a week off and come into camp around the first of August. It's more of just trying to rebuild and getting my body back into football shape...and gain weight. It's pretty hard, just because I never really got stronger. Every time I got into a sport, I'm always maintaining that season. I never get an off season because I'm doing two sports. Just having track to do now for next year is a good thing. This is something that I've never really been through. I've never even gotten the feeling of having an off season. I think people don't know that I play football and go through, training through the off season. I went through the two-a-days and all that and played a few games. Then, added on the rest of fall training for track. Then the indoor and outdoor season. Now I'm just a little bit tired, but all that kind of goes away when you're working for a job, something you want to do for a living.

Do you have any funny rituals or superstitions with your running?

Rituals? No, I don't really have anything like that. So many try to make me nervous. They say that I have a target on my back or whatever from being blessed with being an NCAA champion. For me, I think that I took that as a thing to work hard on. Being that I've had some success, that just continues to make me a lot more hungry and I try to stay humble. I haven't accomplished everything that I've wanted to. There's so much more in me that I can do. That's what's keeps me grounded and working hard. I don't think I get really nervous or anything. It's more of putting myself in a position where I feel ready and I trust my training and I don't think anything bad will happen because I've been training and getting my body ready. I don't have superstitions or anything like that.

Now that you're focusing just on track, do you see your open 400m time dropping a whole lot?

I think I can drop a whole lot. I've never really ran an open four as hard as possible. Usually when I do run it, it's more like a “do it and try to get it done” sort of thing. I've never been in a 400-meter race where I had to run really hard. Conference last year, I had to do it in PAC-10s. I was just tired because I did the four by one, four by four, the 400 hurdles and the 400. It was just me being fatigued and tired. If I took it seriously and really ran, I think I could drop my time significantly.

Your 400 PR is only 46, when you're running 48 seconds with hurdles.

Yeah, I ran 46.08 last year and I didn't really run that hard. I've split like sub-45. This past PAC-10, I split like 45.1. I'm able to run a good open four if I want to.

If you could have one meal, prepared by anyone, what would you have and who would make it?

My mom makes a good catfish and corn bread and macaroni and cheese. That's something that I would eat. I don't think that I would do it during the season. My mom keeps tabs on me and how I eat. She'll cook healthier when I'm not doing anything during the season. That's something that I look forward too. That and ribs!

Can you share a crazy running-related story?

I've done some crazy workouts with the middle distance guys.

You bump up in distance?

Yeah, this year I ran the 800 maybe five or six times. I had to train with the middle distance guys. Probably one of the hardest workouts that we did was a ladder run. We did a 1,200, 1,000, 800, 600, 500, 400, 200 and a 100.

You can hang on those?

(Laughs) Yeah, I was dying, but I didn't stop or anything. In between sets, we jogged like a lap or something or 200 meters then went on to the next interval. For me, that was a rough workout that I did with the middle distance guys. We have a really good 800-meter runner up here—Joe Abbott, who's been pushing me pretty much to the limit. In the sprints and everything, I can pretty much work him pretty hard. If it gets over 600, he's stronger than me. That's what helped me a little bit this year.

You've got me thinking. You've got the fall off, how about you jump into cross country?

(Laughs) I don't know. If they ask me to do something like that...I don't think so. I don't think I could put that much mileage on my legs. It's pretty rough, but I don't know. I don't know what the future has in store for me right now. I'm just taking everything meet by meet. I'm just concentrating on what goes on at USAs. I'm just praying that things go a lot better than they did last year.

I'm going to put you down as a maybe for cross country.

All right! Cool!

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