Sprinter Cosby Having Field Day

Larry Sebert, Granada Hills High’s first-year track coach, had heard the promising news before the season began.

“I knew I had a pretty good sprinter and a pretty good shotputter,” Sebert said, “but I didn’t know it was the same girl.”

That girl was Jessica Cosby, a six-foot freshman who averaged 19 points and 18 rebounds for the basketball team. Cosby has run 12.5 seconds in the 100 meters and put the shot a City Section-leading 41 feet 4 inches this year.

Cosby, who has a 3.7 grade-point average, has competed in track since she was eight years old and has been running the 100 and putting the shot for the past four years.

Although Cosby put the six-pound shot 46-6 for the Northridge Pacers track club last year, she has been surprised by her success with the four-kilogram (8 1/2 pounds) implement this season.

“I was thinking 35 or 36 feet might be a good mark this year with the new shot,” she said. “It surprised me to throw 41 feet with a four-kilo.”

Cosby talks excitedly about eventually breaking the City record of 47-2 1/4 set by Lynn Richardson of Jefferson in 1979. She’d also like to approach the 12-second barrier in the 100 this season.

“I’m more of a threat in the shotput than in running,” she said, “but I’d like to be a threat in both.”