Following 10th-place finish at West Regional, Sandoval has All-America aspirations in first appearance by female cross country athlete at Division 1 final in program history

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

For San Jose State senior Jenny Sandoval, it’s always been about developing belief.

It was that way as a high school runner at Summit High in Fontana, Calif., when she seemingly came out of nowhere as a senior to finish fourth in the Division 1 final at California’s state championship meet.

And it was that way again Friday, when she finished 10th at the NCAA West Regional by covering the 6-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 9.8 seconds at Colfax Golf Club in Washington to become the first female from San Jose State to qualify for a national cross country final this Saturday in the NCAA Division 1 Championships at the LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute, Ind.

“I was just so excited,” Sandoval said. “I couldn’t believe this actually happened. I’ve always wanted to go to nationals ever since I came to college. I thought that would be so cool one day to go. I was so excited, I almost started crying.”

It was perhaps the biggest step in a cross country career that’s been a steady progression with impressive steps up at critical points.

“When she was a freshman, even a sophomore, it was tough,” San Jose State coach Brad Wick said.

“She’s gotten stronger each year,” he added. “It’s tough to keep improving.”

As a college freshman in 2016, Sandoval scored four top-10 finishes in meets around the Bay Area before placing 55th in the Division 1 West Regional. As a sophomore, it was a top-20 finish at the Mountain West Conference finals, before placing 30th at the West Regional.

Last year, she finished 11th at the Mountain West championship meet, held at Balboa Park in San Diego, before another 30th-place showing at the regional. She followed with a track and field season that included personal bests in the 1,500 meters (4:33.82), 5,000 (16:21.42) and the 10,000 (33:37.38).

“She’s always trained hard," Wick said. "Sometimes, it takes a year or two for the training to take effect.”

Three weeks ago, Sandoval broke into the top 10 at the conference finals by placing eighth in 20:29.2 at the Steve and Dona Reeder course in Logan, Utah.

Then Friday, Sandoval rallied from 16th place at the 5-kilometer mark to earn one of the region’s four individual berths to nationals, along with San Francisco’s Aoibhe Richardson, UCLA’s Christina Rice and Portland’s Anna Pataki.

Her time in Washington was a personal best for 6 kilometers.

“I know I wanted to make it to nationals, so I just put myself in the best position I could and I put myself in the top 20,” Sandoval said. “After that, I just started to roll and pick people off one by one.”

Always unassuming, Sandoval said she didn’t even realize she had earned the region’s final individual qualifying berth because she mistook a scoreboard reading of her team’s finish for her own.

“I thought I got 13th, so it was a nice surprise,” she said.

What has continued her success and, at times, kept her going, has been confidence.

“I think I just started to kind of believe in myself,” she said, “and that’s when things started changing – once I started to realize I’m capable of much more.”

And it hasn’t always been rosy. Being a student-athlete can be a grind and she had outside distractions – nothing really out of the norm, she said – that did have her consider leaving running at one point.

“It was just a lot of mental battles and physical battles that I had to go through,” she said. “College life changes can make everything seem like your world is crashing down.

“Running has been there all the time,” she added. “I’m really thankful I didn’t quit on it.”

San Jose State was also certainly thankful.

After Craig Huff became the first male athlete in program history to win a Mountain West Conference track title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in May, Sandoval breaking down the door of qualifying for nationals has brought additional hope to the Spartans’ program.

It even created even a little bit of on-campus buzz, which included a congratulatory call from one of the university vice presidents.

Most importantly, Sandoval hopes she’s laid a foundation for the future.

“It’s very fulfilling to be able to bring awareness and shine on the program,” said Sandoval, also a two-time academic all-conference selection.

“We do have a lot of talented and hard-working kids here that do get overlooked. It’s really nice to get some momentum going, and maybe pave the way for the future athletes to go to nationals, as well.”

First, though, is her own trip there this week. It’s something that even this late in her college career will be a first. And a last.

“The goal is to go out there and leave everything on the course,” she said. “When I finish, I want to be done. That’s one of the goals, another goal is to be top 30 and see how that goes.”

Then will come one more spring track season. Sandoval said she is on course to graduate in June, with a degree in Speech Pathology.

Had she been told, she said, before her senior year at Summit that she would be competing at the NCAA Division 1 Championships by her senior year of college, her answer would’ve been telling, and predictable.

“I would’ve said, ‘Are you sure it’s me?’” she said. “I would’ve been super surprised. It would’ve stuck with me forever.”