Editor’s note: This story on Cameron Crump is Part 2 of a four-part series on Mississippi State track and field athletes competing in NCAA outdoor championships. Part 1 was published in Sunday’s paper, and Part 3 will run in Tuesday’s paper.
STARKVILLE — Cameron Crump can’t get the race out of his mind.
It doesn’t matter that it was three years ago. That Crump was a freshman doing his best to compete in the SEC.
“I think about that to this day still,” the Mississippi State redshirt junior admitted.
Back in 2019, Crump was the anchor of a 4×400 relay that posted the Bulldogs’ fastest time of the year at NCAA East prelims: 3 minutes, 7.31 seconds.
It wasn’t enough.
MSU missed out on advancing to national championships by a mere five milliseconds, leaving Crump and his teammates disappointed.
Head coach Chris Woods reassured Crump, reminding him he’d put up a great run for a freshman and would only improve, but it was hard to swallow.
“I did get better, but I always think about that moment,” Crump said. “What if I would have given just a little more effort and leaned across the line? We would have been there.”
It was a moment that has motivated Crump throughout an excellent career at MSU, and the Tate County native isn’t done yet.
Crump qualified for outdoor nationals in the long jump last year and did the same this year, hoping to improve on a performance he said was not his best.
Crump finished 13th in the 2021 event but can atone for it at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Eugene, Oregon.
“I’m just really excited,” he said. “I’m really calm about it, but I’m very excited. Just to be back there, I’m just excited to have another opportunity.”
Crump made the most of his chance in indoor nationals in March in Birmingham, finishing sixth with a jump of 7.65 meters to earn first-team all-American status. He became the first Mississippi State athlete to be named an all-American since 1989.
He said following that up with all-American status at outdoor nationals would be “the icing on the cake,” and it might just be attainable. Crump qualified for outdoor nationals with a jump of 7.97 meters, leading the way in East prelims in Bloomington, Indiana.
It was just off Crump’s 7.99-meter mark at 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, also hosted in Eugene. Crump just missed qualifying for the U.S. national team, but he got the chance to meet people he admired, including Olympic gold medal long jumper Jeff Henderson, a Hinds Community College alum.
“Words can’t explain how I felt about that moment: getting congratulated by the crowd and coaches and everybody there and the people I look up to,” Crump said.
It was an admirable performance given an injury that knocked Crump out of the 2021 indoor season entirely.
Crump felt his hip hurting during a run in practice, and teammate Okheme Moore advised him to get it checked out.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Crump assured Moore. “I can make it through.”
He couldn’t. In the middle of a curve on the track, Crump took a step and his right leg collapsed.
Doctors told him he was on the verge of a fractured femur — one of the hardest bones in the body to break. Had he fractured it, Crump would have been out for a year and a half.
Instead, he was booking trips to outdoor nationals and Olympic trials not long afterward.
“I came back stronger,” Crump said.
It was little surprise for Crump, a three-sport athlete during his time at Strayhorn High School. Crump said football made him tougher while basketball honed his quickness, “and it always trickled down to track.”
The varied responsibilities took up a lot of his time — and helped him improve.
“My mom wouldn’t even let me get a job because she said I had more important things to do,” Crump said. “It drove me to be better.”
From the unincorporated community of Sarah, Crump pays homage to his home state with an outline of Mississippi tattooed on his leg. A red star near the northwest corner marks his home county.
Crump chose to follow in the footsteps of his father and several relatives in choosing Mississippi State, with Starkville located between two and three hours from home — “not too far from my family but far enough where they don’t pop up on me every second of every minute.”
Those who have backed Crump in his career so far will do so again when he competes in nationals. Crump said his former coaches still push him to be better, and congratulatory texts, calls and emails abound from family and friends.
He’s hoping to get a few more with a strong performance in Eugene.
“I’m still building on my legacy, and it feels great,” Crump said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
