Winning in Slow Motion

By: D. Scott Fritchen

She knew she had nailed it. She knew it in midflight, that day at the Tyson Invite, as she took off and sailed through the air. Sometimes things happen fast, other times they go in slow motion. This was a slow-motion moment. When she landed, Tesia Thomas had recorded a personal best 6.32 meters in the long jump, the fifth-best distance all-time at Kansas State. This came after she posted a 6.26 meters at the DeLoss Dodds Invite two weeks prior, her best long jump in three years.

"It was definitely a great meet and a great atmosphere, and I wanted to make each jump better than the last," Thomas says of the Tyson Invite. "Having more energy, a better mindset, a better technique, and definitely on that jump I wanted to prove to myself and prove to all those watching that you don't always have to build up to your best jump. You're capable of having a great execution right from the beginning."

She thumbs through her screenshots as she talks, as she catalogs each of her jumps. She tracks her progress through the season.

"I think every time I set a PR, it feels like everything around me is going slow-mo because everything isn't about who's the fastest on the runway but who's taking time in the air. I really felt like I was traveling in slow motion."

Thomas' travels led her to K-State in late April. That's when she took her official visit to Manhattan and a track and field program that carried a national reputation for churning out some of the best individual talent in the country.

She arrived after four years at Penn State, which is a story in itself. Five of her relatives had attended Penn State. Her father, Tisen, played football at Penn State (1989-93). Her sister, Trinity, was a member of the U.S. National gymnastics team and competed collegiately at Florida. Tesia, who knew she wanted to attend Penn State when she was 16 years old, graduated from Penn State in 2024 with a degree in elementary and early education.

A native of York, Pennsylvania, Thomas' family needed just a two-hour drive to watch her compete in Happy Valley. That was a big plus, and her journeys took her to the 2022 NCAA East Preliminary and the 2024 Big Ten Championship.

But there's another thread to her story that makes every practice and competition and classwork and exam particularly special.

Thomas has epilepsy.

"I'm epileptic and have grown up with this disability my whole life," she says. "For some people, they have always seen it as being a restriction for me, but I've always seen it as a blessing and show that if you can have something that holds you back in just the slightest way possible, that just means you have the strength in yourself in other areas to stay up to speed with everyone else.

"I definitely wanted Penn State to be that place in my life where if anything ever happened, my family could reach me in a good period of time. When I went through those four years at Penn State, I realized I'm continuing to mature and become more independent and know how to take care of myself and my health both mentally and physically. I know once I graduated with my bachelor's, I was ready to take that next step of being able to step away from my family when it came to distance."

When Thomas entered her name into the transfer portal in early April, many Division I schools came calling.

"Thankfully, I'm very grateful that there were other talented and high-quality schools that saw my potential and reached out to me," she says. "What it really came down to for a lot of things was finding the schools that had the resources that would be best for me with my condition. For instance, a school that had an indoor facility, so whenever it came to spring or the beginning of the year, if there were those hot days where it would've just been a very risky chance for me to be outside and risk having a seizure.

"I wanted to be at a school that had resources so I could practice inside on days when it is safer for me. That was definitely the biggest make-or-break for a lot of schools, making sure they had that resource for me because my health is my priority, and I hope it would be everyone else's as well."

Thomas says her top three triggers for an epileptic episode are lack of sleep, exhaustion and getting overheated or overwhelmed. She has a service dog, consumes half a gallon of water a day to maintain proper hydration, and her medication requires eight to nine hours of sleep each night to gain full effectiveness. She has a stash of snacks and electrolytes with her at practice.

"It's self-discipline, time management and organization," she says. "That's something that, since I've had epilepsy since I was six months old, since I can remember, it's really taught me a lot."

"When it comes to practice, it's making sure I'm very hydrated, taking my time, still pushing myself, but making sure that I really focus on my breathing and don't get too overwhelmed," she adds. "It's like, 'Yes, this rep is hard,' but I focus on deep breaths and taking sips and not chugging. I have to be very mindful and patient with myself and listen to my body and let my body be in charge of what my next action is supposed to be."

Thomas appreciates the caring nature of the K-State coaches and trainers.

"We have trainers that ask every question possible to make sure I'm OK," she says. "The second I was here before practices, they asked me what precautions to take and what signs to look for to see how I was doing so they knew if there was hot day outside being overheated is a trigger that can make a seizure to happen. They made sure I had electrolytes and snacks for me. They checked me after every other rep to make sure I was doing OK. They definitely were great in giving me their undivided attention in showing that although their job was to make sure everybody was OK, they showed that they cared about me just as much as well just by talking to me face to face.

"It's really great how eager and curious everybody was to get more knowledge on what it was like to be epileptic. They were very open and anxious and educated themselves about it and that was great."

It truly has been a team effort — one that has led Thomas to compete in the Big 12 Championship on Friday in Lubbock, Texas.

Every day is a victory, and some days are bigger victories than others, and, well, reaching her individual goals would be a major victory for Thomas, who aspires to reach greatness.

"I still have more to achieve and that I'm getting closer to that finish line, but I haven't crossed it yet, which is always good to look forward to," she says. "I still know I have yet to reach my full potential. It's always nice to hit a PR, but I'm still not at my potential yet. There's still more room for growth, which is always good.

"My potential here in the Big 12 Championships is definitely placing second or third for sure and based on the mindset the day of the meet and the execution and jumping for myself and just knowing to be selfish when it comes down to being on that runway and not thinking of trying to please others, but at the end of the day making myself happy. At the end of the day, you should be your No. 1 biggest fan because you're also your biggest competition. Definitely just making sure to be there for myself and to jump for myself and just remember that I'm doing this because I'm having fun with it and never allow it to bring me down."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tesia Thomas

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