With the eyes and iPhones of spectators all around, Humphreys sophomore Cassandra Jarzabek charges across the finish line in a Pacific-record time of 17 minutes, 58.0 seconds during Saturday's Korea regular-season ending meet. (Humphreys cross country)

Many records last for years, withstanding the attempts of numerous athletes to break them.

Apparently, Cassandra Jarzabek did not get that memo.

The Humphreys sophomore became the first Pacific female runner to officially breach the 18-minute mark, clocking 17 minutes, 58.0 seconds during Saturday morning’s final Korea regular-season meet on Humphreys’ 3.12-mile road course.

Jarzabek bettered the DODEA-Pacific mark set last year by Matthew C. Perry’s Jane Williams of 18:12.4 on Sept. 30, 2023. Jarzabek’s previous personal best was 18:36.6, which she ran last week at Cheongna Dalton School in Incheon.

“My motivation to train,” Jarzabek said of her secret to continually running faster as the season has progressed.

“I’ve trained super hard, really hard. And it wasn’t just running. Nutrition, strength training, recovery, injury prevention; even my mentality leading up to the race. It all contributed to my performance today,” she said.

Jarzabek credited her training regimen and programs set up by head coach Amy Gleason and Humphreys’ longtime distance coach Dave Elger. “He has been absolutely awesome,” Jarzabek said.

Another motivating factor, she said, was watching Williams and St. Mary’s William Beardsley, last year’s Far East cross country champions, running alone with no opposition except the clock.

“They set the standard for all of us in DODEA,” Jarzabek said of Beardsley and Williams. “They showed it was possible to be fast even when you were by yourself. That definitely left an impression on me.”

It was Jarzabek’s last competition before the Far East meet, scheduled for Oct. 21-22 at the Resol Forest Resort’s athletic training facility in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

Following that is the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Council’s season-ending championship meet on Oct. 26. That’s at Taejon Christian in north Daejeon’s Techno Valley.

According to Athletic.net, the Internet’s database for worldwide cross country and track and field teams, athletes and meets, Jarzabek stands 260th among girls stateside runners.

Rose Thompson of Ramstein is DODEA-Europe’s fastest runner this season with a best of 19:58.8.

Prior to Williams setting the Pacific record last season, it belonged to American School In Japan’s Marina Ten Have, 18:19, set four years ago. The top DODEA-Pacific time prior to Williams was 18:51, set by Robert D. Edgren’s Morgan Erler in the 2021 Far East virtual meet.

Williams now runs for Utah State and Beardsley for Michigan.

Ten Have ran for Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 2021 season. Erler is in her junior season with Division II Northwest Nazarene.