Camas alum Trevor Jasinsky never missed a game the entirety of his basketball career at Western Washington University.
One-hundred and twenty consecutive contests Jasinsky appeared in until his college days abruptly ended last month when the NCAA cancelled its Division II Tournament amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“It’s an indescribable feeling,” said Jasinsky, a 2015 Papermaker grad. “I prepared myself for how my final season might end — winning a national championship or eventually losing. Those were feelings I was expecting. Having it end this way is not something I was prepared for.”
In a recent phone interview, Jasinsky admitted the emotions still haven’t quite set in as he sat in his home in Camas, a Bachelor’s degree in marketing in hand and a place in WWU history as one of the program’s most consistent players.
The 6-foot-8 forward started 89 consecutive games, finished with 1,518 career points (eighth in WWU history), 589 rebounds (sixth) and 197 3-pointers (sixth). He is one of five Western players to rank in the top in both scoring and rebounding.
He led the Vikings to a pair of NCAA West Regional championships and Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships. He was a two-time unanimous first-team all-GNAC selection and a three-time all-GNAC academic award recipient.
“I’ve been very blessed with good health throughout my college career,” said Jasinsky, crediting the WWU training staff. “But it also didn’t matter if I had a broken finger or whatever, I was going to play. If I was able to run up and down, I was going to be on the court.”
Jasinsky hopes to play professionally next year. He is training in his garage to stay in shape and shoots around at a friend’s outdoor hoop in preparation for his next opportunity. Getting that opportunity has presented its own difficulties. Because of the pandemic, he’s unable to get in front of scouts and team administrators to show what he can do.
“The process is already complex. There’s a lot of moving parts to these things,” Jasinsky said. “The virus has just made it that much more difficult.”
First, he took time to reflect on what could have been for this year’s Viking team. The Vikings were 20-10 and the No. 8 seed in the West Region. They were set to take on No. 1 seed UC San Diego before the season was called off. The team’s talent rivaled that of Jasinsky’s freshman year, he said, when the Vikings last advanced to NCAA Tournament and won a GNAC title.
“We knew this was our last opportunity to leave it all on the floor,” Jasinsky said. “We knew (UCSD) was more afraid to play us than we were to play them. The season will obviously be just a what-if. But we could have made things happen.”
Jasinsky capped his career by averaging a team-best 14.8 points per game. He added 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In leading his team to its second GNAC title in his time in Bellingham, he averaged 19.5 points per game in the conference tournament and was named tourney MVP.
It’s that unknowing final run that will stick with Jasinsky forever.
“We were all devastated but if you look at the region — the eight teams in the national tournament — only three got to end their last game cutting down nets. We were one of them,” Jasinsky said. “We were robbed of what felt like an opportunity but we went out as champions.”
