Track & field: For the good of the team

USC THROWER JASON COOK HAS SACRIFICED A LOT TO HELP HIS TRACK TEAMMATES

Jason Cook, University of South Carolina shot put thrower, won the SEC shot put title and qualified for the upcoming NCAA regional. Cook is the first USC athlete to win the shot in 11 years.

ERIK CAMPOS/[email protected] /THE STATE

---

Written by JOSEPH PERSON

[email protected]

Posted on 05.25.09

email print reprint or license 

Comments (0)

 Recommend (0)

ERIK CAMPOS/[email protected]/THE STATE

Jason Cook, University of South Carolina shot put thrower, won the SEC shot put title and qualified for the upcoming NCAA regional. Cook is the first USC athlete to win the shot in 11 years.

 

Jason Cook has run up $160,000 in student loan debt in five years at USC, which the Gamecocks’ shot putter refers to as the “beast waiting for me at the end of the tunnel.”

Cook comes from a middle-class background in Virginia and worked part-time in high school while his father was dealing with a health issue.

But Cook turned down additional scholarship money last year so Gamecocks coach Curtis Frye could use it to sign a highly touted pole vaulter. The sacrifice paid off when Cook and the aforementioned vaulter, Elliott Haynie, placed at the SEC Outdoor Championship, where USC’s men’s team matched its best showing with a fourth-place finish.

Cook, who won the shot put at the SEC meet and is ranked fifth nationally in the event, will compete in this weekend’s NCAA East Regional in Greensboro, N.C.

And though that student-loan beast grew a little bigger and uglier, Cook does not regret his decision to give up a half-scholarship (his current grant covers about 20 percent of his tuition costs) so Frye could bring in another athlete.

“I made the right choice. I won’t second-guess it. We finished fourth in the SEC ... that’s a win-win situation,” he said. “It’s just money. I’m going to make more than that later. I’ve got the rest of my life to pay that off.”

Cook understands and appreciates sacrifice. One of his heroes is Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals safety who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004 after he gave up NFL millions to become an Army Ranger.

“That says a lot about the character of a person,” Cook said. “That they’re going to sacrifice not only the money but their own life because they felt it was something that needed to be done after 9/11.”

Cook learned to throw the shot and discus from his father, Jerry, a former high school thrower who drew a chalk circle on his back deck and taught his son the proper footwork. Jason Cook went on to become a two-time state champion in the shot and disc at Brentsville District High, where he broke the school records held by USC throws coach Mike Sergent.