Graduating college early is a big accomplishment. So is becoming a professional athlete.
Doing both is quite a feat.
Graduating in three years with a degree in bioscience from Barrett, the Honors College, and being named a two-time All-American in tennis while playing professional tennis on the side — that’s on another level.
Senior Jacqueline Cako is on another level.
Cako will graduate in May after only three years at ASU. She plans to apply to medical school should professional tennis not pan out.
Her intense desire to graduate early so she could play professional tennis is only matched by her schedule.
At one point, Cako was taking five biology classes, three labs and one self-described “easier” class. That’s nine classes and 21 credits in a semester.
“I was trying to get two (practice sessions) in every day, whether it was early in the morning or in the evening under the lights," Cako said. "Then I’d do homework after that.”
It is not surprising that Cako's favorite class is a difficult one: organic chemistry.
“I love putting together puzzles,” Cako said. “It’s cool being able to know how to make different compounds, like stuff in ordinary products you see in your house.”
One puzzle Cako had to figure out was how to balance a heavy course load with being one of the country’s top collegiate tennis players.
It wasn’t easy.
During the spring semester of her sophomore year, Cako hit a low point. Her grades were slipping, her play was slipping and she began to question herself.
“It just started getting over the top," Cako said. "It was really frustrating. There was a point where I was questioning whether or not I wanted to stay in the honors college.
“There was just a point where I was just kind of sick of it and sick of school and just kind of over it just, because I was doing so many classes,” Cako added.
Coach Sheila McInerney remembers Cako’s struggles that semester.
“She was trying to take 18 to 21 hours so she could graduate early to get out and play tennis at the professional level a little bit earlier," McInerney said. "She was really swamped."
Cako stuck it out, not wanting to throw away all of the hard work she had already done.
Her ultimate goal is still to play tennis professionally, and it has been since she was 11 years old.
Medical school is just a backup plan.
“As a little kid, I always told everyone, ‘By the time I’m 16, I want to be a professional tennis player,'" Cako said.
Cako followed through with that promise, playing in her first professional tournaments when she was 16 years old.
College was barely a part of the plan. After graduating high school, she took a year off from school strictly to play professional tennis.
It was an agreement with her parents that forced her back to school.
“The deal with my parents was, in order for me to stay pro, I had to get into the top 200 (in the world rankings)," Cako said. "I only got to 360.”
So, Cako is an exceptional student, check.
She’s an outstanding tennis player, check.
On top of all of that, she’s also an outstanding teammate, check.
“As driven as she is, she’s a caring kid. She’s got a good heart. In a lot of ways, she’s a softie," McInerney said. "But you wouldn’t know that by looking at how she competes on the court. We’ve been fortunate to have her.”
On the court, Cako pushes her teammates, but she also helps them off of it as well.
“She’s a tough teammate," sophomore Leighann Sahagun said. "She motivates us to make sure we’re doing our best because we want to back her up. By the end of the time, we play a practice match, and we know that we’ve gotten better if we’ve played her.”
Tough schedule, tough teammate, tough sport — everything Cako does is tough.
“I don’t ever like to take the easy way out of things,” Cako said.
No kidding.
Reach the reporter at ejsmith7@asu.edu
