Grant Levesque positioned for big moment at NCAA Track Championships

There was always going to be a point where everything came together for Grant Levesque.

The 2019 Coronado alum, and now 2023 Rice alum and track sophomore, has had a long path to this week's NCAA national championships, as this timeline suggests.

There have been multiple seasons lost to injury, two lost to COVID, then all the normal ups and downs that come with the decathlon, the most complicated event in track.

What was never in question was Levesque's drive and talent, his willpower to make everything work.

That was going to be a day when he brought all that together, and that day is now.

Levesque heads to Wednesday's national championships in Austin coming off a Conference USA runner-up performance where he set personal bests in seven of 10 events, scoring 7,902 points that is tied for the ninth best mark in the NCAA this year.

Four years after winning a state championship in the pole vault for Coronado, Levesque is staking his ground as a near world-class decathlete.

"I feel great, I'm ready, I'm feeling healthy, which is a blessing," Levesque said. "Now that we're here and I look back, it's something special. I've had a lot of bumps along the way, but now I'm where I want to be. And I'm still young."

That is true, despite being one of the nation's oldest sophomores. He began his college career in 2020 by breaking his wrist, then lost the 2020 outdoor and 2021 indoor seasons to the COVID shutdown. Then came a torn meniscus that sidelined him for 2021 outdoors.

Last spring he began to show his talent, finally getting on the track and finishing as one of the top decathletes to miss the cut for nationals. After all that, he then missed this indoor season to a hamstring injury.

Through all, he just kept coming, just kept doing the work.

"We knew this day would come," his event coach Drew Fucci said. "It's just a matter of staying healthy. It's been a long process to get him there, but he's a phenomenal athlete, a phenomenal student and an incredible competitor.

"I'm excited. Everything is coming together how we planned. Now you cross your fingers and enjoy the ride."

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That ride was a thrilling one at the C-USA championships, where he set personal bests in the 100 (wind-aided), 400, 1,500, long jump, high jump, shot put and javelin. A mark of 8,000 points is considered world class, and if Levesque can duplicate his C-USA performance with a good day in his best event, the pole vault, he'll hit that.

He'd also likely get on the awards stand, a dream that began crystalizing in his mind in 2017 when he saw the C-USA championships in El Paso. His mother Julie Levesque is UTEP's senior women's administrator and herself a former national runner up in the Division II heptathlon, and a career in the multis was always his goal.

"I met coach (Jon) Warren and coach Fucci," in 2017 at Kidd Field, Levesque said. "I told my mom, 'I'm going to be at nationals someday.' It's been a long six years, a lot of injuries, a lot of bumps along the way. It's been a journey and now I'm here."

This season his journey has involved slimming down. That's part of the give-and-take of the decathlon, where athletes have to strike a balance between bulking up, which theoretically helps in the throws, and dropping weight, which theoretically helps in the runs and jumps.

Levesque has dropped 10 pounds this year to get to 180 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame, but is also throwing better than he ever has.

"My weight training has been around more explosive movement instead of the volume," Levesque said. "I realize I don't have to do a 275 bench, which is what I was up to. I do 225 now but it's more explosive work.

"I've been working on my throws. I was so happy to throw 49.58 (162-feet, 8-inches) in the javelin and 39.89 (130-10) in the discus at conference. Those weren't both prs, the javelin was, but putting those together in a decathlon was big for me."

Fucci said that shows his maturity.

"It's a misconception with younger athletes and Grant is no exception, at first it's 'I've got to get bigger, I've got to get stronger,'" Fucci said. "I put emphasis on strength training, but not like some of the kids would like. It's not getting super strong or super big.

"You have to apply it to the throws. He's now slimming down and the discus is going further than it ever has, the shot is going further, the javelin is going further. He pr'd in all three throws at conference being slimmed down from where he was in the fall.

"I let them figure that out on their own. 'I don't have to squat 600 pounds or bench 380 to throw the shot further. I just have to be technically sound.' That's what he's figuring out. That's part of the fun for me."

What's also fun for everyone is that Levesque, who graduated in May and is now going to work toward an MBA at Rice, has two more years of college track before going pro. That is the benefit of all those years lost to injury.

"I've told my kids for years, injuries are a blessing," Fucci said. "When you're injured, sitting there watching others compete, it makes you hungry and it also gives you patience. He has the perfect ingredients.

"Those injuries, while they are setbacks, make you hungrier, and they get smarter and more mature as an older athlete. That's all come together."

That was a matter of time for Levesque, and that time is now arriving.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.