Two brothers beat personal best in different meets
When Cameron McFadden took third at the Northern California
track and field championships earlier this month in Modesto,
clocking a personal best of 15.08 in the 110-meter hurdles, he did
what most people would do.
Two brothers beat personal best in different meets
When Cameron McFadden took third at the Northern California track and field championships earlier this month in Modesto, clocking a personal best of 15.08 in the 110-meter hurdles, he did what most people would do.
He phoned his mother.
But little did he know his phone call would provide just enough motivation for his younger brother, Evan.
Cameron’s mother, Vanita Mann, received the call when she was attending the Tri-County Athletic League Championships in Gilroy. Busy watching Evan prepare for the same event his brother competed in, Mann relayed the information to her other son that Cameron’s third-place time at NorCal’s earned him a berth to the state championships.
Suddenly driven, Evan sprinted to a personal-best 15.33, edging Gilroy’s Peter Guenther by two one-hundredths of a second, and qualifying for the Central Coast Section Semifinals.
“I’ve never seen so much determination on his face,” Mann said.
The two brothers, seemingly willed by each other, have never raced hurdles against one another or trained together, but race in step, nonetheless.
Competing in the same event but at different levels – Evan is a junior at San Benito High School while Cameron is a redshirt freshman at Hartnell – the two brothers are linked through sport.
Calling the 300-meter low hurdles the most difficult event in track along with pole vaulting, the two brothers feel the 110-meter hurdles is a perfect blend of flexibility, power, intensity and movement.
They’re able to watch videotape of their races together, supplying tips and pointers on ways to improve, but differing schedules simply add yet another hurdle.
“If I watch films sometimes, I’ll tell him he needs to run faster,” Evan said. “But I really can’t tell him too much because he’s better than me.”
Running faster is something Cameron continues to do. After recording a 15.08 at NorCal’s Cameron ran a 14.86 at the state meet and finished seventh. More importantly, he became the first freshman at Hartnell to break the 15-second mark, while his state time places him sixth all-time at Hartnell.
But despite Cameron’s strides, he feels his little brother is perhaps destined for bigger things.
“Evan probably has better skills than I do,” said Cameron, noting Evan’s two-time CCS qualification, and that the younger McFadden was competing at the varsity level as a freshman. Just last weekend, Evan recorded a 15.42 at the CCS Semifinals.
Although the two brothers plan on training together before next season, their involvement in the 110 hurdles is considered a “fluke,” but Cameron’s persistence with the sport is anything but.
While Evan simply followed his brother’s lead, Cameron started out in the sixth grade at Rancho San Justo. Under the guidance and encouragement of his coaches, Cameron’s passion for hurdles began.
“There were people doing hurdles and I figured I’m fast enough, I might as well do it,” Cameron said.
Simple, really.
The older McFadden’s speed began to pick up in the eighth grade, an understanding of the mechanics followed, and a first-place finish at TCALs was achieved as a sophomore at SBHS.
Without a hurdles coach after his freshman year, Cameron and teammates Jonathan DiSalvo, Siljef Tabancay and Raul Marta essentially taught themselves proper technique.
“He was good at the hurdles,” said Evan, of his brother. “I started in the eighth grade … It was easier because I knew how to do it exactly and watching Cameron, I was able to pick up the form.”
Although Evan has avoided injuries – “Knock on wood,” Mann said – Cameron has had some hard knocks in recent years.
He dislocated his left kneecap during spring football practice his junior year, and after the knee was fully healed, Cameron re-injured the same knee while snowboarding. That setback held him out his senior year of track, and extended through his freshman year at Hartnell, when he was forced to redshirt.
“I’ve been trying to get my knee back since then,” said Cameron, who graduated from SBHS in 2005. “And after finishing [physical therapy], it was time to just go out and do it.”
In his first meet earlier this year for Hartnell, Cameron delivered a NorCal-qualifying time. But after taking 20 credits in school, coupled with the guilt that his parents were paying the tuition, Cameron wanted out. He wanted to get a job and start working.
“He just felt like mom and dad were paying for everything,” Mann said. “And he felt bad but we were just like, ‘No, you’re doing this.'”
Cameron, who said his mom “put him in check,” continued to run all season despite the stress, and continued to suffer injuries nonetheless. With his body breaking down from bunions and shin splints, it was the support from his family and coaches that pulled him through the season, and eventually into NorCal’s.
“I think it showed that he’s strong and that he can fight through it,” Evan said. “When your mind is growing weak, the only person to fix it is yourself, and I respect him for that.”
The injuries were another hurdle in Cameron’s life, and although the Hartnell sophomore is scheduled for another surgery in the off season to repair his foot, he seems to be taking it all in stride.
“You don’t jump hurdles. You run hurdles,” Cameron said. “I can use that toward life because you have to take it straight on. You can’t dance around it. You can’t tippy-step around the hurdles. You have to dive at the hurdles.”
Taking the sport head on, Cameron clears hurdles faster than any other freshman in Hartnell history, despite all the setbacks.
“You’re not just running,” Evan added. “There are obstacles.”
