Articles - Summer 2008 - return to index
Flash Floods Sweep Athlete Into
Track Career
-By By Daniel Moret
Sometimes the path that a person should take in life becomes clear in a flash. For Cody Fleming, it came in a flash flood.
After his senior year of high school in
Sparks, Nevada, Cody was set to play
quarterback in an all-star football
game when three days of rain and
flash floods canceled the game.
The next day, a disappointed Cody
received a call from Lane Community
College track and field coach Grady
O’Connor. Grady invited Cody to
visit Lane and consider track.
“I was all set to attend the University of Nevada-Reno and play football up until that day,” recalls Cody, but the rainout felt like “a sign to pursue something else.”
During Cody’s visit to Eugene, Grady “pulled out articles and photos of past decathletes and explained how they had gone on to bigger schools and great careers. Then we went up to the campus, and he showed me around. I felt instantly at home.”
Cody chose to pursue track at Lane.
“He immediately became a team leader who contributed beyond the athletic playing field,” says Coach O’Connor.
After placing second in the decathlon in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges conference, Cody graduated from Lane and transferred to the University of Oregon where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and advertising and competed for two years in track.
“The transition from Lane to the U of O could not have been any more smooth in the classroom or on the track,” says Cody.
In 2005, he finished fourth in the decathlon at the Pac-10 championships and helped the team win the Pac-10 title.
Now Cody is back at Lane as an
assistant coach for track and field,
and he’s still training hard. His
goal is to compete at the Olympic
Track and Field Trials starting in
Eugene on June 27. “I think with
Grady’s help, that goal can be met.
Lane is giving me every advantage.
I have access to everything I need.”
Another Lane alumni, Tom Pappas, is a former world champion in the decathlon and will be attempting to make the Olympic team for the third time.
“I want to one day be the head
coach for a major track and field
collegiate program,” says Cody.
“Lane has given me a great start
toward achieving that goal.”
For information about track and field at Lane, see 2011sitearchive.lanecc.edu/healthpe/athletic/track.htm
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