From Freeport, Bahamas to Highland, Kansas it's been a long journey for Highland sophomore, Coshan Campbell and it's one that that is really only beginning as the final chapter is written in her Highland athletic career.

Campbell capped her Scottie athletic career in an historic fashion by winning only the second National Championship in Highland Community College history as she posted a time of 1:30.13 to win the 600 meter run at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The mark is the sixth fastest time in NJCAA history and gave Campbell her ninth Highland school record.

When asked about what the achievement feels like Campbell took a few minutes to gather her thoughts but capture her feelings on her achievement well. "Nothing is more satisfying knowing that you put in the work to accomplish something as amazing as a National Championship. I try and push myself to get stronger not only physically but also mentally each and every day. Knowing all your hard work, dedication, never quitting and all the practice to perfect your craft day in and day out resulted in National Championship, is a sweet taste of victory but more of a bite for me," said Campbell.

Highland Head Track and Field Coach, Chad Clevenger was excited to see Campbell's hardwork pay off at Nationals. "After her national meet from Last year, we sat down and talked about the next 365 days. In that talk, we decided that over the next year, EVERYTHING we did was focused on preparing to win a national championship. Doing the right things, training right, and completely buying into everything we did. If she was willing to do that, we were going to be on the line in March 2019 ready to do something special. She not only was excited about the idea, but willing to do what it took to win. We had a great fall, and felt coming out of fall training, she just looked faster on the track than I've ever seen her. That's when I knew, we had something special, and now my job was to keep her healthy, and get her to the line in March. I'm super proud of her accomplishing the goal we set forth to achieve."

The Scottie sophomore capped her Highland track career at Indoor Nationals not only with the National Championship in the 600 meter run, but she also was just tenths of seconds off of the tough task of winning both the 600 and 800 at the same meet. She posted a time of 2:14.64 to break her own school record and finish as the NJCAA National runner-up in the 800. She also partnered with three other Scotties to place fifth in the 4x400 meter relay with a new school record time of 3:52.53 at Nationals.

"At the National Meet, I had a coach tell me that the 600/800 Double was impossible to do (win) at the National Meet because they are too close together (50 Minutes apart). She was able to do both at a High Level winning the 600, and taking second in the 800. After her race, a coach in our Region shared with me that the Coshan from two years ago, probably wouldn't have been able to come back so quickly to do so well in the 800. It was a great compliment to Coshan and her growth. We were literally 0.6 seconds from pulling off "the impossible double," said Coach, Clevenger about Campbell's performance at Nationals.

Campbell was named USTFCCCA NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Central Region Athlete of the Year after her performance at Regionals, as she won the Women's Track Athlete of the Meet at the Region VI/KJCCC Championship after winning Region titles in the 600 and 800 meters and finishing second with the 4x400 meter relay team and third with the Distance Medley relay. Scotties finished fourth as a women's team at Regionals.

"Competing at Highland has benefited me greatly. Highland has molded me to be prepared for the college I will attend after Highland and also has helped me become a stronger student athlete on and off the track" said Campbell on how Highland as impacted her life. While she also commented on how Coach Clevenger has impacted her life also, "I believe in order to be one of the best elite athlete's you have to train like an elite athlete. Meaning you have to do what others are not willing to do. Every elite athlete should have a connection with their coach; a connection of trust that allows you to be able to trust him/her completely. You could have all the talent in the world but having that person who will coach you in order to master your craft, will help you be unstoppable. That's what I have with Coach Chad Clevenger, I trust him fully because I truly believe that he has my best interest at heart. Coach has greatly impacted not just my running career but my life."

Campbell finishes her career with nine school records as she owns the 500m (1:14.56), 600m (1:30.13), 800m (2:14.64) and 1000m (3:06.32) Indoor Highland records, while also being a part of the 4x400 (3:52.53), 4x800 (9:57.95) and Distance Medley (12:58.69) relay records in Indoor competition. In Outdoor she owns the Highland record in the 800m (2:14.45) and is part of the 4x800 meter relay (9:10.60) record.

Last year at Nationals she earned second place in the 800 meter run at Outdoor Nationals and was part of the 4x800 meter and Distance Medley relay teams that finished sixth and fifth at Nationals, and took eighth at Indoor Nationals last year. In 2017 her freshman season she was part of the third place 4x800 meter relay team at Nationals in Outdoor.
She also competed in Cross Country for the Scotties and placed 74^th at the NJCAA Nationals this year posting a time of 22:28 and finishes with the eighth fastest time in school history in women's cross country at 19:32.

Coach Clevenger has enjoyed every moment of coaching Campbell. "Coaching Coshan has been wonderful! She is a kid who has totally bought into our program, and inspires the women around her to run better by just being there doing everything she's asked to do. Being able to watch her progress, and see how things played out at indoor Nationals, it was such a great experience to be a part of, and something great for our students to see. She is like another daughter, and proud that my family has gotten to know and see her do the things she's doing. She also never took herself too serious, and so humble in victory and defeat. After her 600 Championship Race, 1^st thing she says to me as we are about to celebrate, she giggled and said, "Coach, you believe that I ran that race with my shoe untied?," said Clevenger.

Coach Clevenger also feels an athlete like Coshan has helped him become a better coach and helped the Highland Track and Field program. "Coshan has made me a better coach. Her personality is amazing, her work ethic is too. It was great to learn from her, and see how to coach a kid who has such amazing versatility in her abilities. She has opened the door for others at Highland, and has shown every recruit we bring in, that they can progress to a National Championship if they follow Coshan's Blue print," said Clevenger.

Campbell now turns her attention to continuing to train and prepare for the next step in her track career which will likely lead her to a NCAA Division I program as she currently owns multiple offers and has plenty of interest from top flight programs across the country. While Campbell looks ahead to the next chapter she will leave Highland with plenty of fond memories and plenty of great relationships.
 
"What I will take away from my time at Highland is the friends I made, no let me rephrase that the family I gained. Including one of the most important people that entered my life in Highland is Mrs. Tia (Collins – Highland Head Athletic Trainer). She truly is there for me in my time of need, always checking on me and giving me advice when I need it. She is an amazing athletic trainer balancing all these different sports and still find time out her busy schedule to help and plus try to make time for her family," said Campbell.

While Campbell is done competing for Highland with the Indoor season in the books she has left a legacy at Highland etching her name in the record books, one thing is for sure she will continue to live by her favorite quote which comes from legendary Coach John Wooden "Make each day your masterpiece."

Coshan Campbell's National Championship Run in the 600 meters at the NJCAA Indoor National Championship