Cal Yackin made a luge leap as a sophomore despite not even having a full freshman season, as the pandemic forced a 10-month stoppage to varsity competition. Nevertheless, he continued progressing nicely through his second indoor season before erupting outdoors…

The mid-distance specialist qualified for NCAA’s in the 1500 meters, and moved through prelims on opening day in North Carolina by crossing top-four in his heat. He ran the final lap in 58.4 seconds and ultimately posted 3:53 (and change) to warrant a spot in Saturday’s final.

His championship race had all the drama one could think of. Sitting third midway through the final lap, Yackin was clipped from behind with roughly 220 meters to go and approaching the far turn. He became off-balanced and nearly stumbled into the infield, but regained his stride and resituated on the inside line amongst traffic.

Yackin kicked hard down the straightaway to post 3:48.89, finish in sixth place and earn All-American honors. His effort broke Otterbein’s longstanding school record, held by Hall of Famer Mark Burns, that stood at 3:49.11 for nearly four decades (1982).

A protest against Yackin for some type of contact then resulted in an initial disqualification. However, after a pair of appeals, he was reinstated and took his rightful place on the podium!

Then, in the fall of 2021, Yackin delivered a strong cross country season after not even having a schedule in 2020 due to the pandemic. He earned All-Ohio (7th), All-OAC (12th), All-Great Lakes Region (4th) and then finished 18th of 289 runners at the NCAA Division III Championships in Kentucky to warrant All-American honors.