March 11, 2009
Story by Trey Bloomer, Media Relations Student Assistant
Starting college for anyone can be a tough experience, and the thought of moving far from home can be a daunting task for many. Well that is the case for most people, but not Brandi Cross. Cross is from Missouri City, Texas, and from a young age she had an idea that she might end up at the University of South Carolina.
“I went to the Penn Relays when I was 12 or 13, and the University of South Carolina was there. Those girls won everything! I said then I am going to that school,” Cross recalled.
After seeing the Gamecock track and field program early on, it was not hard for her to leave her home state of Texas. Even with offers from UCLA, Arizona State and Texas A&M, she decided that South Carolina was the place for her.
“I felt that I could represent the state of Texas, outside of Texas,” said Cross. “A lot of big names have come out of Columbia, and Coach (Curtis) Frye has produced a lot of Olympians. I just really wanted to be apart of that.”
Having a father and a grandfather that were track athletes, it only seemed natural that she would follow in their footsteps, and that she did at very young age after “stumbling upon it.”
“My dad ran track in college, and he was also a police officer. They have a police officer Olympics, and he was practicing for a meet one day and we started to joke around that I might have some speed. So he put me on a track team when I was seven, and I have been running ever since,” Cross said.
For most athletes there is a time in their life when they realize that they can do something with their talent. For some athletes this can be late in their high school career, and for others it can be very early in their lives. When it comes to Brandi Cross it was early on and in a big way.
“When I was 12, I went to the Junior Olympics and participated in the high jump, and I broke the record. I then did the decathlon and broke the record; I did the 400m and broke the record,” said Cross. “It was three completely different events and I broke the record in all of the events. I didn’t just break those records by a little bit; I shattered them all. That was when I realized I can really do something with this.”
Cross has continued that success as she has continued her career at the University of South Carolina. As a freshman she won the NCAA Indoor Championship as the third leg of the 4x400m relay team. She would then continue that success into her sophomore year with another strong performance throughout the year earning NCAA Indoor and Outdoor All-American honors, moving her total to five All-America citations in two seasons of competition. All of the success of her first two years allowed her to be invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials last summer where she advanced to the semi-finals with a personal best 51.63 in the 400m dash.
Making it to the U.S. Olympic Trials is a big accomplishment for any athlete, and it can be a bit of shock to many athletes participating in it. For Cross, the shock wasn’t that big because she has competed against many of those athletes before.
“I have run against all these people at the bigger meets because I am an elite athlete myself. I have always been invited to some of the bigger events, and because of that I have always competed against the best,” said Cross. “Even when I was in high school and a lot of those other girls were in college I ran against them in invitational meets. So it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
If you watch Cross compete enough then you learn quickly that her specialty is running the 400m dash. While it is her best even she will be swift to tell you that it is a “love-hate” relationship at best.
“The 400m is my big event. I am not going to say that I like the event, and it is actually one of things that I fear the most. It is a race that really hurts, and you have to be really strong to run that race,” Cross admitted. “It is tricky and you have to map it out. It is not like other races where you just sprint all out. You really have to have speed and endurance to finish the race.”
Cross is also very quick to point out that she has a hard time listening and taking the critiquing of others. While learning to listen is still something that she constantly works at, and cites as her biggest accomplishment in college, it is something that becomes easy when Curtis Frye is her head coach. Just talking to Cross, she beams at the mention of her coach. She says that he was the biggest reason that she chose the University of South Carolina.
“What most recruits do not do is take all five official visits and learn about the coaches. Most people just say, oh, I like this team or I like those jerseys. Most people do not take the time to look at the coaches’ background. I think that if more athletes took the time and look up what Coach Frye has done and his background, that even more of the elite athletes would come to South Carolina,” said Cross. “For me, that is how I chose to come to school here. His resume, his history, who he has coached, what those athletes are doing now and just everything. Even the former athletes that were here, when I talk to them all they talk about is Coach Frye. So it was important to me because I wanted to be amongst the best, so I went to where the best was.”
Starting Friday at the Gilliam Indoor Track on the campus of Texas A&M, about an hour and a half from where she grew up and graduated from Thurgood Marshall High School, Cross and the eighth-ranked Gamecocks will attempt to once again show the nation that they are deserving of being among the best. Cross and the Gamecocks will look to earn their ninth top 10 finish in the last 10 years under Frye. However, Cross, who will compete in the 400m dash and the nation-leading 4x400m relay team, won’t be content until the Gamecocks do what they did the first time she saw them at Penn Relays back in the 2000 season – which is to win everything.
