Usually, athletes who have accumulated first-place finishes and claimed the title in their event have years of experience under their belt. But Ben Doucette was the exception to his freshman year of college and did just that — blazing times that resulted in a Big Sky 60-meter hurdle championship with only a few years in track.
Doucette said he kicked off his athletic career playing baseball and then basketball, but it wasn’t until high school that he picked up track.
“I really didn’t do it for anything except for kind of training for basketball,” Doucette said.
He was not spared from injuries as he juggled his sports. After battling through a torn quad, Doucette said he returned to track with little training and was only able to compete in the meets. Despite the lack of training, he said he still found success on the track, making it to the state meet where he claimed third place in the 110-meter hurdles.
However, this feat did not come without taking a toll on his body. Doucette said he took a step back to fully recover from his injury when he realized where his true passion lied.
“I had done all this recovery to come back for track and I didn’t really want to do basketball in the same way I had before,” he said.
Once he stepped back from basketball, Doucette said his focus was solely on track.
“My junior year, I focused entirely on track and trained 10 months out of the year for it,” he said. “I just totally fell in love with it.”
Despite only playing team sports, he said that one of the reasons he is so drawn to track is because it is a sport that is solely dependent on personal effort and performance.
“All it is is you and your ability,” Doucette said. “There is no external factor. If you mess up it is on you, if you succeed it is on you.”
This newfound love for the sport lead him into carrying out his career at the collegiate level, Doucette said. He said his decision came down to the University of Washington and Idaho, but after talking with coaches and visiting the campus, he was sold on Idaho.
“I was invited out here,” he said. “I talked to Tim (Cawley) on the phone and really enjoyed him and the culture that he described, so I came out here and totally fell in love with the team and the coaches and the people.”
Idaho Director of Track and Field Tim Cawley said he liked more than just Doucette’s athletic abilities.
“He is an excellent student, just amazing character, very charismatic so he has good leadership skills with that as well and he is a talented athlete,” Cawley said.
Since joining Idaho, Doucette has continued to improve his time, including this 60-meter hurdles win at the indoor conference championships. He said he knew he was capable of winning, but his triumphs even exceeded his own expectations.
“I knew I was more athletic than people realized,” he said. “I knew that I could come in and do well, I did not expect to do as well as I did.”
While Doucette said he knew he was setting high expectations for himself, it wasn’t until after the first meet he fully realized his potential.
“After the first meet, I ran an 8.04 and I was .04 off and I was kind of surprised,” Doucette said. “I believed I could do it but I didn’t necessarily expect it either.”
Cawley echoed Doucette’s sentiments, and said he knew from the start he was capable of big achievements, but did not expect him to go to the levels he did in his debut season.
“We knew athleticism wise, he was probably even more talented than we realized,” Cawley said. “But I don’t know if I necessarily expected him to win conference.”
Doucette said he has always been highly self-motivated and is around people that have always helped motivate and support him.
“My parents back home have helped me a lot, my coaches back home, I mean they always believed in me, they always told me I could do it,” he said. “I have had many people that have helped me on my journey, to say the least.”
As Doucette has adjusted to the Idaho program, Cawley said he has fit in perfectly with the team, both athletically and personally.
“From an athletic standpoint he pushes everyone,” Cawley said. “He competes well and raises everyone’s ability in practice, which is good. Part of it is charisma — a very positive person and it is just infectious so when he is around the team I think he kind of help keep that gel.”
Cawley said he believes that Doucette has integrated himself throughout the whole team and in turn brought them all together.
“He is so outgoing, he is close friends with a lot of the seniors, a lot of the juniors,” Cawley said. “He has integrated himself throughout, it is not like he is just great friends with all the freshman. When you have certain athletes that do that, it kind of helps bring the whole team together.”
After a successful opening indoor season, Doucette said he is ready to look ahead.
“The goal right now is I want to try and get a conference championship in outdoors,” he said. “Long term goal, I would love to be an All-American and try and run at nationals.”
Cawley said he sees a lot of success in Doucette’s future, be it on the track or off.
“There is a lot of growth there,” Cawley said. “I am afraid to say where I think he’ll go or won’t go just because I don’t want to put a ceiling on it.”
Cawley said that was what he does know is that no matter what Doucette decides to do he will find success.
“He is going to go on to do amazing things in whatever he decides to do,” Cawley said. “If his passion stays in track and field, he will do some amazing things there I am certain of it. He is just an outstanding human being, not just an athlete and I think that is important.”
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]