For several weeks during the 2023 track season, Del Norte’s Cameron Yarbrough was the fastest freshman 1600-meter runner in the nation.
He absolutely dominated the event, seemingly flowing effortlessly to faster and faster times.
Then his name just disappeared.
No division championship. No section championship. No state championship.
Last year was an even bigger mystery as he didn’t run in a single invitational and never appeared on the leaders’ lists.
“I’ve had a lot of stress fractures,” explained the current junior. “It was necessary that they happened because it was going to happen sooner or later. Better to get them out of the way.”
Yarbrough went from the top of his sport to being a spectator when he had a hip stress fracture the week before the Division 1 championships and then suffered a shin fracture just days into his sophomore season.
While other runners train mostly on the track, he now spends more time in the swimming pool or on a bike, carefully protecting his legs while pushing on the track to get back to where he was and where many thought he could be.
So far, so good.
Heading into Saturday’s Sundevil Invitational at Mt. Carmel, where he’ll run the invitational 1,600, he has already clocked a 4:19.25 (No. 2 in the section) running solo in a dual meet and last weekend he won the Falcon Relays 800 meters with a lifetime best 1:55.25 (No. 4 in the section).
“I’d never been totally amazing at anything like I was for a few weeks as a freshman,” said Yarbrough, 16. “Getting that feeling back is what motivated me when I couldn’t run.
“My feet weren’t perfect and that led to the stress fractures. Then, after missing those big meets as a freshman, to get injured again as a sophomore meant I had to start all over from scratch again.
“That’s where I am now. Running, unequivocally, is mental, it’s always the runner who wants it most. But it’s hard to know if in the pool or on the track you’re doing enough to be where you want to be at the end of the season.
“So, I’m looking to improve progressively.”
While he would like nothing better than to win a state championship at the end of May, that’s not his immediate goal. Not surprisingly, his quest is to finish the season healthy.
His coach, Chris Jacobs, not to mention his parents and doctors, all share that goal.
“When you watch Cameron run, it looks like he’s not working, it’s so effortless,” said Jacobs. “We shut him down after the Division 1 prelims as a freshman but having it happen again is not good for the psyche.
“The key is to make it through the season and run in the state meet, because there’s where he’ll run fast. That’s where the guns will be. He’s done everything you could ask of him.
“Once you’ve had a stress fracture, it’s natural to be cautious. When you’ve had two, you need to run so that you realize you can do it (without injury).”
OK, every coach has performances he believes his athletes can achieve if all goes well. Jacobs is no exception.
“This weekend, we want something in the 4:13 to 4:15 range,” he said. “That will put him back where he was as a freshman. Then, at Arcadia and Mt. SAC he’ll go even faster.
“If he’s healthy, he has the ability to run a 1:53 800 and a sub 4:10 in the 1600. Our philosophy is whatever he runs, he runs.”
Yarbrough its to some frustration but is pleased where he stands.
“Both (Josiah Bowman) and I should be among the national leaders,” he said, referring to the Sage Creek junior, who ran a 1:50.39 for 800 meters last weekend. “He has some serious gears and that’s what I’m working on.
“Track is very important to me, now and in college. But the key is to be there at the end of year, so whatever I do now, what’s most important is continuing to progress.”
