Casimir Loxsom is the fastest thing on this side of the Mississippi…on two legs…that goes to college. But still, that’s pretty fast.

Loxsom, a junior at Penn State, was recently named the Big Ten Indoor Track Athlete of the year following a stellar season that climaxed in a record beating 600-meter indoor run. His time ticked all the way down to 1:15.42. How fast is that? Well, it was the fastest indoor 600-meters by any college student, and oh yeah, by any American. Ever. It was the third fastest time ever run in the event indoors.

One problem: Because of the slope of the track, it didn’t count as a record.

That didn’t matter though. After a second place finish at Indoor Nationals, Loxsom is ready for the outdoor season to cap off a fantastic college career. “Outdoors is by far the more important of the two seasons,” explained Loxsom, and after his second place indoor finish, he is hungry to get back on top. “It was a really fun season and coming in second at Nationals was a really big accomplishment, but at the same time, I feel like runners as a whole are never satisfied. It left me hungry for outdoors. It hurt a little to be so close,” Loxsom said.

Today is the official start of the outdoor season, and it’s about time to satisfy that hunger. After three straight Big Ten 800-meter titles, Loxsom has his eyes on another record — and this one is going to count.

“I’ve been thinking about it since I won my freshman year,” he said. “I guess I need to win all four.” No one has ever won the event four straight times.

But Loxsom has the motivation for the Big Ten finals and for the NCAA finals. “I have a picture of him [Oregon’s Elijah Greer] beating me at the line and I look at it everyday. The outdoor [NCAA] finals is shaping up to look just like the indoor finals with me and that kid from Oregon,” he said about his second place indoor finish. But that second place finish might be a blessing in disguise.

There’s a little bit of superstition involved between the indoor and outdoor seasons. “Since I’ve been in college no one has won the indoor and outdoor races in the same year, I’m glad to have the curse on my side,” said Loxsom, who is doing his best to keep the curse going.

He’s always been a great athlete, but with a motivated team around him, this is his year to be the best. “I’ve been putting in a lot more mileage than I did last year,” he said. “This year has been completely different. My sophomore year I had a really good outdoor season, and then last year I struggled with iron problems. This year our middle distance runners are just working really well together and have a great, positive winning mentality.”

With just one season left to make the history books Loxsom says the thought of not wearing blue and white has been on his mind a lot, “This is the last year I’ll be able to wear [a Penn State uniform]. These four years have flown by. I plan on pursuing this as a career next year, so hopefully there’s more to come but my time here has just been great.”

While this is the first official day of the outdoor season, Loxsom didn’t make the trip to Standford. “There are meets that are good in specific events and, since our team is so big, we tend to split up. We don’t take jumpers to an event that isn’t known for jumping,” said Loxsom. Instead, he’ll  be making his start next weekend in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

From there, history is his to make.