Senior Jamar Marshall Jr. competes in the 110-meter hurdles on May 30 in College Station, Texas. | Juan DeLeon/UH Athletics
COLLEGE STATION, Texas —Senior Jamar Marshall Jr. stood just off the track, hand to his ear like a phone, after punching his ticket to his second NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“Eugene is calling,” he said. “He told me to be ready.”
After clocking the third fastest time of the day at 13.19 in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA West Regionals, Marshall is headed to Eugene, Ore. It wasn’t just a celebration — it was survival.
Diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a rare heart condition that causes dangerously fast heartbeats, Marshall’s track future was uncertain. While still an athlete at Arizona State, an EKG revealed the condition, but it wasn’t until he transferred to Houston that he learned how serious it truly was.
One moment, he was competing on the national stage. Next, he was facing life-altering news, unsure if he would ever run again.
In January 2024, he underwent heart surgery to burn off the extra electrical pathway causing the condition.
Nearly two years after his last race, he returned to the track for his first race as a Cougar, fittingly, at home during the Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational.
For a moment, it seemed like he was finally back over the hurdles, placing no lower than fourth in any race until the NCAA West First Round. There, Marshall slipped to a 20.04 last-place finish, ending his season.
The Stockton, Calif., native thought he was past his prime. After all, it was his 21-year-old freshman self who finished fifth at the National Championships just a year after being one of the nation’s best high school hurdlers.
He began to wonder if this comeback wasn’t about glory. Maybe it was just about proving he could return to the track at all.
Then came the voice of Olympic legend and coach Carl Lewis, offering hope.
“Carl always told me, ‘If you trust yourself and believe in the process, we are going to get you to another National Championship,’” Marshall said. “That moment came two years later.”
Just two weeks before the regional, Marshall won his first conference title since surgery. He broke a 14-year-old Big 12 record by 0.10 seconds as he recorded a personal best time of 13.13.
In the preliminary round at the regional, the hurdler came in second in his heat with a time of 13.52, enough to push him to the semifinals.
Two days later, he won his heat in 13.19 seconds, finishing behind only Texas’ Kendrick Smallwood and Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott in the region, securing the fourth-fastest regional time nationally.
“The fact that he had the resilience to stay at it and keep his confidence is just tremendous,” Lewis said. “I think he has just as good a chance as anyone to win it all.”
Marshall walked off the track to accept his second career call from Eugene and was shouting long after his heat ended. This time he answered with even more pride.
“I got revived,” Marshall said.
