This is Portage junior Taylor Pusateri’s final year of high school.
But Pusateri has a plan for that — she already committed to run at Valparaiso — because she does nothing by accident.
“I always like to know exactly what I’m doing,” she said. “That’s just how my brain works.”
Pusateri’s short-term focus is this track season, her last for Portage, and she has every intention of ending it back at the state meet after competing in two events there last year. She qualified as an individual in the 200-meter dash and as part of Portage’s 400 relay, another step in her rapid ascent after fully committing to track ahead of her sophomore year.
Pusateri grew up as a gymnast, starting in that sport when she was 2 years old. In sixth grade, however, she fractured her left arm, an injury that ultimately required three surgeries.
Pusateri rolled up a sleeve to reveal the scar. The lengthy recovery from all those setbacks eventually steered her toward track.
“I’d started thinking about what I was going to go to college for,” she said. “It was hard to let gymnastics go at first. I was sad about it, but once I started winning races and getting recognition for what I was doing, it made that all go away.”
Pusateri’s sophomore year was her first one without gymnastics, although she kept her tumbling skills sharp as a cheerleader. In fact, her meticulous, detailed approach to track — and everything else — was influenced by her background.
“Being brought up in gymnastics, I had to know what I was doing all of the time,” she said. “I feel like that helps me. And gymnastics made me push myself to the limit, so it’s easier for me to do that in track because I’m used to that constant drive to be better.”
For Pusateri, every practice sprint has its purpose, every repetition in the weight room has its meaning. She has a specific agenda for everything she does to keep her times dropping — which keeps Portage coach Myles Tolliver on his toes.
“It makes me a better coach,” Tolliver said. “She always wants to know what she’s doing, when she’s doing it and what the program is. I enjoy all of the questions. I just love that she comes to practice every day and gives her all.”
Pusateri also has a seemingly endless reservoir of energy to tackle those daily routines, along with an infectious attitude that influences her teammates.
“It’s her energy. She doesn’t give up,” Portage junior Jamia Adams said. “She makes you want to keep fighting, to keep going. We might run something that isn’t our best, but she’ll still be telling us that we’ve got to be positive about it.”
Perhaps that’s all just part of the plan for Pusateri, who said she settled on the idea of graduating early while she was in middle school. She has been doubling up her math and English classes and sprinkling in some online courses. She said she’s on pace to graduate with honors this year.
“Everyone says that high school is the best years of your life, but I don’t want high school to be the highlight of my life,” she said. “I want things to keep getting better from there.”
True to form, Pusateri has no plans to extend her college stay beyond the required years.
“I’m even thinking about graduating college early,” she said. “I just want to get my life put together and be successful.”
She took visits to Miami of Ohio, Western Illinois and Loyola before settling on Valparaiso. She said her instant connection with the coaches there was the primary motivation, and the proximity to her hometown is a bonus.
“If the Valpo coaches were at a school in Florida, I would’ve gone there,” she said. “But I like that I’m still home so I can be with my family.”
Pusateri will have to go farther for the state meet if she qualifies again. She said she believes her combination of speed training and weight lifting in the offseason should help keep her among the state’s top sprinters.
“I want to medal at state. That’s my goal,” she said. “And I want my team to come down with me.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
