The Oval Magazine (APRIL 2021) : simplebooklet.com

by Derek Rubis My passion for the sport of distance running doesn’t just come from being a fan — it also comes from being a distance runner who races as well. The passion comes from getting to race, getting on a track and doing track workouts. My motto is “The Harder the Workout, the Better I Feel.” My passion didn’t start when I started distance running in middle school for the 6th grade run. It actually came l a t e r i n m y distance running career when I took roughly two and a half years o f f f r o m t h e sport. During that time I was lifting weights but still kept my eye on our sport. When I saw Chris Solinsky race on the track, it was either NCAA XC N a t i o n a l Championships or Big Ten Track Championships, and being able to race for a D3 college at Carroll University, it brought me back and started my passion for our sport. My passion for this sport just doesn’t come from me— it comes from the inﬂuence of others in the sport. For example, Alexi Pappas and Nikki Hiltz showing that even though we have hard workouts and long miles, we can also put fun into those hard workouts and long miles. Nick Willis showed the passion you can have for the longevity in our sport. Nick Symmonds gave me the passion to ﬁght for this sport like what I am doing now with helping the Clemson Men’s Cross Country & Track teams from being cut. The Tinman Elite team showed me that even though our sport isn’t as huge as football and basketball, we can still do good in this sport and give back to charities like the Black Lives Matter movement. They also focus locally, giving some of their clothes in the drop that they won’t wear to charities. NAU Coach Mike Smith and BYU Coach Diljeet Taylor taught me what hard work is in this sport from the other side of the starting line. The last three, Craig Engels, Billy Cvecko, and Everett Smulders, have taught me that the passion is different in this sport, and that you do not have to be the same old cookie cutter. Not only in this sport, but also the fashion in our sport with man buns while wearing a crop-top and half tights or wearing a r a c i n g speedsuit in a 3k/5k/10k on the track to be different. In addition to my passion for our sport, I was asked t o tal k about what pushes me to be such a huge fan in our sport. I think that there are two things that push me in our sport. First of all, othe r big name sports like football, basketball, baseball, and hockey tend to get more publicity than our sport at Clemson and other colleges that I talked about above. The second thing is that I am known not just in the United States but also in 13 other countries around the world. I know other distance runners who I root for as well as US distance runners and that, I think, is why I’m called The Hub Of Distance Running, a nickname that I got from the pro distance runner David Torrence. The Hub of Distance RunningPhoto credit: Derek Nikolai

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by Lindsey Butler, Virginia Tech When I was initially told the remainder of our track season was cancelled because of COVID, to be quite honest (Coach Eric please stop reading here) I was almost relieved. As a lot of high-school-turned-college athletes know, the transition is HARD. Don’t get me wrong, I was having an amazing ﬁrst year: The distance team was like one big family, every practice was so much fun, and I was feeling like Virginia Tech really was the right ﬁt for me. However, I was not ready for how tough my ﬁrst year of college running would be: doubles nearly every day, beating myself up in workout groups to keep up with girls who had made multiple NCAA appearances, and our “small” home meets being faster than my high school state meets. I ﬁnished my ﬁrst collegiate season not even snifﬁng the goals I had set and was overall discouraged with what the uncertain future had to hold. During the spring I stayed in Blacksburg to train with my teammates who stayed in town and that was deﬁnitely where the big motivation for this year’s track season was born. Me and the few girls left on campus spent a lot of days attempting to hit the workout paces on the outdoor track in the freezing weather, trying not to think about the locked, warm, indoor track facility sitting less than 200 meters from us. The only thing that kept us coming back each day was talking about all the goals we had set for the next year. Fast forward to what feels like an eternity later, thanks to lots of COVID tests (and unfortunately a positive one along the way), indoor track season was ﬁnally upon us. Being a whole year older, everything felt far more rhythmic and attainable: Doubles were just the norm, our workout group was nearly identical to last year’s but instead of being the little freshman caboosing every rep, it started to feel like we were all an even match, and rather than going into every race with the mindset of just hanging on I’d go in telling myself I was going to win. At ﬁrst it was just a blatant lie but after a few races I really started meaning it. In no time ACCs came and it was time to actually run the race I had been running in my head for the last year. With any race there were some things I would’ve done differently but when I crossed the ﬁnish line for the 800 ﬁnals it was an indescribable feeling to look at the clock and realize a) I had won, something that only happened half of the times I’d run it in my head b) I had hit the Olympic Trials standard, a goal I kept to myself since coming to college and rarely shared with others in fear of it being perceived as too outlandish. The excitement of ACCs and the conﬁdence it instilled took me to my ﬁrst NCAA appearance two weeks later where I ran a ﬁnals that I was not quite as proud of but felt it showed the progress I had made this season. Going into my ﬁrst outdoor college season I am more excited than ever. I’ve learned so much about racing and about myself through the long quarantine period and even more so in these short few months of indoors. I know what it’s like to go into a race as the underdog as well as with a big target on my back. My goals for this season are to get another chance at NCAAs to take home a national title and to be a solid competitor at the Olympic Trials in June. While the outcome of the 2020 track season was devastating no matter how you spin it, I think it helped me ﬁgure out what kind of runner I wanted to be and ultimately come back stronger than ever. One Step Backwards, Two Steps ForwardsPhoto credit: Virginia Tech Athletics

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We sat down with Justyn Knight, former Syracuse NCAA cross country and 5k champion and professional runner for the Reebok Boston Track Club. This interview covered his goals for the upcoming season, his training, and his transition to professional running among a variety of other topics! The Oval: You had a really impressive winter season with the 3:36 at The Texas Qualiﬁer and the 8:13 2 mile at Ocean Breeze, how do you think not racing really for a year and focusing solely on training affected your racing attitude and performance? Justyn Knight: Yeah, thank you for that! I think it impacted me in a positive way, from the months of March to October I was actually training by myself. My teammates were here in Charlottesville still, and I was here too but I didn’t know much about COVID so I just decided to train by myself. It was really hard and tore at me mentally and physically. It’s a lot harder for me to train by myself, in the past I don’t know if I’ve shown it but I’ve struggled with setting the pace I want to run and over those months I was able to truly work on that, and I haven’t mastered it, but I’m a lot better at it, which gave me a lot of conﬁdence heading into those races. I’ve always been good at “sit and kick,” but now I’m better with being responsible for the pace. Going all those months without races also really humbles you and makes you grateful for the opportunities when you get them. I went in it with the mentality that each race could be your last, and you’ve got to go into it with the goal to win it and do your best. TO: Now that we’re a few weeks removed from that winter training block, how are you feeling about your ﬁtness heading into outdoor season? JK: I’m feeling conﬁdent, I haven’t been doing much speed stuff but I’ve been getting back to doing longer workouts like fartleks and tempos. I think that’s very important heading into the season. The main focus is the 5k, but in the 5k you have to be able to close very fast to be a contender in the Olympics. In order for me to close the last mile as fast as I want to, I need strength to have speed. You can be as fast as you are in a 1500 but you need strength to close fast. Starting in the fall and heading into the winter, I did a few speed workouts but I was mostly doing strength workouts so I can close as fast as I wanted to. TO: Yeah, that’s deﬁnitely something we’ve heard a lot with speed being strength. JK: I learned that the hard way, I always thought strength stuff would make me slower. I’m friends with Jakob Ingebrigsten, and we all know how fast he is in the 1500. If you throw him in a 5k he’s run 13:01; those 1500 and 5k guys who close in those times have to be able to do both, and watching him has encouraged me to be the best I can be in both events. TO: You mentioned you were focusing on the 5k, and it’s been super fun to watch guys like you and Grant Fisher and Joe Klecker and Morgan McDonald running the 5k. How does it feel to be a part of this next generation coming out of the NCAA? JK: It feels amazing. The same way I used to look at the Mo Fa r a h s a n d Cam Levins and Mo Ahmeds, I hope at t h e e n d o f o u r careers kids can look at us that way. To be a part of a group like that where we’ve all achieved phenomenal things individually is an honor. I don’t think of myself like that personally yet either, I still think I need to keep working hard to solidify myself and build my accolades. But just to be acknowledged and how people think that way of me is an honor and I hope I live up to those expectations. Q&A with Justyn Knight: Olympic Goals, Pro Running, College Memories, and MorePhoto credit: Danielle Rines, Reebok

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TO: Has it been fun for you being a part of a Canadian resurgence on the global scene with names like you, Mo Ahmed, and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford obviously making noise for Canada? JK: It’s awesome. Canada — I wouldn’t say we’re disrespected, but sometimes I feel like sometimes our top half is really good and then after that it falls out. Looking at the US, they’re very deep through and through. I think it’s great that our top Canadians are proving that we’re just as competitive as our neighbors down south, and a huge shout out to people like Mo and Gabi for leading the way, especially Mo since he was doing it alone for a long time. Having a guy l i k e h i m a r o u n d who’s setting the bar so high, I think the Canadian 5k record was 13:15 before he set it, it’s great to have him to push me to run faster. TO: Coming from a lower mileage background than a lot of your peers on the pro running circuit, do you see yourself moving up to the 10k in the future as you build your mileage, or do you want to maximize your ability on the 5k or 1500 ﬁrst? JK: I think you hit that right on the dot, I want to maximize the 5k and 1500 ﬁrst. Being as young as I am, I think I still have the ability to be world class in the 1500 and especially the 5k and would love to continue on with that. Since I was a sophomore though my coach has been telling me that my best event is the 10k and that if I’m going to win an Olympic gold, it’s going to be in that event. I think as I get older and build my mileage more I won’t be opposed to running a 10k but for now, I’m just focusing on the 5k and 1500. TO: Focusing a bit on your pro career, what has your experience been like training in Charlottesville for the Reebok Boston Track Club? JK: It’s been good, I think both myself and Reebok have learned a lot in a ver y sho r t time. Being a pro is so much different from being in college, where things have been going on for years and everything is already established. Being pro, there’s a lot more freedom and a lot more discretion. Personally, I’ve had my ups and downs because it took me a while to adjust to the pro scene, I actually got dead last in the New Balance Grand Prix in 2018 and ran my slowest mile ever. Prior to that race, I had a streak of not running over 3:59 in the mile, and in that race it just snapped. Reebok has been super supportive of me — whenever I have a problem they are super quick to try to solve that so I am thankful for that relationship. TO: What effect did having Coach Fox coming to Reebok with you have in terms of familiarity with the training and coaching? JK: I think having a familiar face was great since it helps knowing how he designs the training and workouts. Even though I struggled with certain things, just knowing the program and knowing I had done it before was nice since I might’ve found myself in a deeper whole with a new program. He’s a great coach and a great guy, we’ve had a great relationship for 4 years at Syracuse and 3 years now so that’s 7 years now. Photo credit: Geoff Robins

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TO: Does it feel weird training in the same town as a former ACC rival, the University of Virginia? JK: It’s weird actually, my ﬁrst outdoor race was at UVA in the 1500. That day I went from 3:47 to 3:39 in the 1500 so it's a great memory for me. It’s a funny story, Coach told me I would have to run the 10k later, but I asked him if I could get out of it if I ran under 3:40 for the 1500. He said yes because at that point I was a 3:47 runner, and I ended up running 3:39 and I was so happy not just because I ran fast but mainly because I didn’t have to run the 10k. It’s interesting being down here, I’ve had lots of good memories especially at Panorama Farms, which is one of the toughest courses in the NCAA. It’s interesting to see the different environments and terrain they get to train on, like in February in Syracuse everything’s covered in snow and you’re slipping and sliding everywhere whereas there’s barely any snow here. I think I still like the city of Syracuse more though. TO: We remember when you signed with Reebok it was a huge deal for their presence on the running scene. You were a large catalyst for Syracuse becoming a major player in the NCAA for cross country when you led them to their ﬁrst ever NCAA championship. How did the opportunity to become a part of a rising brand with Reebok like you did with Syracuse four years earlier factor into your decision? JK: I think it played a huge role where like we talked about earlier, there’s familiarity with having Coach Fox there if I became a part of the program. It was extremely tough to make a decision. A lot of opportunities became a reality for me, with Bowerman, Oregon Project and Adidas being interested for me. I went and met with most of the people at those programs and I liked everybody, the coaches and teams were great people. It made the decision difﬁcult, because in a perfect world I wish I could’ve said yes to everyone. Reebok reminded me of Syracuse, because when I signed with Syracuse everyone was like why go there when you can go to this place or that place? But I think like Syracuse, Reebok was the right place for me. I’m really thankful for the opportunity and how it presented itself. TO: What has the feeling been like watching Reebok Boston Track Club evolve into more of a team atmosphere as it’s grown, with some really talented runners both from around the NCAA and some familiar faces from your Syracuse days? JK: It’s been awesome. We actually have fewer people on the roster now than what we started with. We started with some people who weren’t necessarily getting paid by Reebok, but life happens and people moved away and had to start careers in other ﬁelds. It’s been awesome though watching my teammates like Amy and Josette have a lot of success this year. On the men’s side, Alex Rogers, Ben Flanagan, Colin Bennie, and Marty Herir have grown a lot since they’ve joined the club. And Rob Domanic, when he’s healthy he’s a problem. It’s been a lot of fun to train with an elite group and watch them improve. TO: With some guys on the club being more marathon-focused, how does your training overlap with theirs? JK: When we do fartleks on dirt trails, I’m with the marathon boys. Back in the fall when I was doing strength work I was doing marathon work. When it came to the workouts, I was running just as hard and just as long and would sometimes ﬁnish off with faster stuff. As soon as it came closer to race time, I started working out more with Alex Rogers and Rob Domanic and Ben does the same stuff I do. It’s really great that we have a diverse group where in the marathon group we have some guys who are really strength based and then guys like Alex and Rob who can easily drop 25s in trainers. TO: To ﬁnish off, if you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be? JK: One thing I would say is to be patient. Everything comes at its own time and you can work as hard as you can and might not understand why you’re not achieving what you want to achieve, but it makes you a stronger person. In 2016, I missed the Olympics by one second twice, but it made me a stronger runner. Also don’t wait for it to be your turn, make it your turn. Don’t be comfortable in not being a contributing member on your team just because you’re the youngest person there. It doesn’t mean it’ll happen right away, but you have to strive to be the best. Because when the people on your team graduate, if you don’t have the mindset to step in you won’t be able to. “Don’t wait for it to be your turn… make it your turn.”

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by Colten Rodriguez, Croatan High School Since when did shopping for a new pair of trainers become the equivalent of perusing the aisles at Gucci? In February 2020 at their Olympic Summit in New York, Nike announced the release of their groundbreaking Air Zoom lineup, a collection of carbon-plated shoes designed for competitive speed meant to eclipse the Vaporﬂy NEXT% and add to their growing a r s e n a l o f professionally-oriented running equipment. Around this same time, Hoka One One, Adidas and o t h e r p o p u l a r running companies followed, adding their innovations to the ideal competition and training shoe. If you guessed that this carbon plating and hyper-responsive foam was jacking up prices, you wouldn't be wrong. These “innovations” can fetch up to $300 from non-target buyers. And while improving shoe technologies revolutionizes the athletic market and sports as a whole, the motive, and its resulting effect, is the same as it has always been — to make fast athletes faster at the unintended expense of hobbyists. To put it another way, the running market now consists largely of products that are directed towards professionals rather than consumers. The burden of these price increases lies mostly into the pockets of some subgroups of people. The ﬁrst group is people like my parents: people who run hundreds of painful miles in order to squeeze every dime of potential out of worn out shoes. Another market is people like my classmates who ask if they should invest their month's earnings in a real pair of track spikes to join the team in the upcoming season rather than wearing their Vans. And an entirely different consumer is the coaches who are left emailing companies to provide shoes for an athlete’s championship season. The main issue with new and expensive technologically-enhanced shoes is that they drive affordable old favorites off the market and potentially out of production to accumulate monetary value. This leaves buyers — the majority being amateur hobby runners — with a choice: drop $300 on a discontinued model they love off of Amazon, or spend that same money purchasing its professional replacement. Thankfully there is a third option to this choice: adapting to corporate price increases on popular shoes by diversifying brand options and ﬁnding alternatives. The best advancements in running footwear have been ones that promote minimalist and affordable yet efﬁcient technology — think Hoka’s sacred Clifton One or Nike’s original ZoomFly. And fortunately, this level of quality and affordability can still be found in brands like Under Armor, Skechers, and, for an even less conventional option, a brand such as Atreyu running. Running is such a popular sport because of its accessibility. The price tag on a pair of shoes shouldn’t deter anyone from pursuing a hobby that they love. Skyrocketing Prices: An Argument for Shoe Diversity Photo credit: Chris Theodore

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We sat down with junior Jenna Hutchins, the high school 5k national record holder with a blistering time of 15:34, to discuss her commitment to Brigham Young University as well as her goals and timeline for the rest of high school! The Oval: Firstly, we just wanted to congratulate you on your commitment to BYU! How did you come to the decision that BYU was your top choice? Jenna Hutchins: Thank you so much! Coach Taylor and the members of the current BYU team played a huge role in my decision by welcoming me with open arms into their family. They both went above and beyond in making me feel incredibly special. Coach Taylor makes everyone feel valued as not only athletes but as people ﬁrst, and her passion for her job as a coach matched my love f o r t h e s p o r t o f running, which knowing me, is no easy feat! The t e a m c u l t u r e a n d atmosphere is totally the perfect ﬁt for me, and I am so honored and happy to call Provo my new home. TO: What were the other schools you were looking at before deciding on BYU? JH: BYU was deﬁ nitely my top choice, but I was also considering Stanford and Notre Dame. TO: How did not having a normal year due to COVID affect how you went through the recruiting process? JH: Even though things have not been totally normal this year with COVID, I do not think it had a considerable impact on my recruiting process. It actually helped teach me the values of proper communication and also enabled me to distinguish the kind of character I was looking for in each individual coach and team. Unfortunately, COVID has impacted the ability to take ofﬁcial visits for the time being, but my family and I were very grateful to have had the opportunity to take a trip to Provo on our own over my spring break in early March. TO: Most runners commit in their senior years, while you’re obviously on the early side committing in your junior spring. What played into this early timeline for you? JH: I liked the idea of committing early because it will give me time to relax and focus on having fun with the rest of my high school career without the added stress of any extra decision making. I can continue to make my relationship between Coach Taylor and my future teammates even stronger as well! TO: I read that you are graduating high school early to train with Coach Julie Stackhouse in Florida. What inﬂuenced that choice to go out on your own path and leave home to train? JH: I am very fortunate to get this opportunity and am very excited to gain as much knowledge from Coach Julie as I can before heading off to college in the fall of 2022. She’s a personal ﬁtness instructor herself, so I will be able to get a ﬁrsthand look at her career and also help her along the way! I am considering a similar degree myself at BYU, so it will give me a great indication if I want to continue to pursue an exercise/wellness degree there. To add to that, I want to become the strongest I can possibly be before my ﬁrst season at BYU along with staying healthy and injury free! Although I will not be competing as a high school athlete, I will still be able to race in a few high-level athletic competitions (unattached) throughout the spring season. TO: What role did having a successful female coach at BYU in Diljeet Taylor have in your commitment? JH: Coach Taylor and I formed such a strong connection and I cannot wait to create so many memories and accomplish so many dreams together. She empowers all women and enables them to be conﬁdent in themselves as athletes and as people. I know I can put all of my faith and trust into her, and she will always be there for me, which means more than anyone could ever imagine. TO: Have you discussed what events you see yourself focusing on at BYU? JH: I am not certain as of this point. As a distance runner, I love all events ranging from mile to 5k. TO: Now that you have your commitment out of the way, what are your goals for both the rest of this outdoor season and also the rest of your high school career? JH: My top priority is always to have fun and stay healthy! In addition to that, I want to be able to really test my limits during the rest of my high school career and improve as much as I possibly can! I am grateful for any and all opportunities to train and compete, so any form of running is a blessing to me! Jenna Hutchins to BYU: Interview with the 5K National Record HolderPhoto credit: David Sheets

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by Caryn Rippey, Wilson High School A little over a year after the coronavirus pandemic uprooted our lives as we knew them, it’s safe to say that we didn’t know just how much difference a year could make. I got to experience that feeling twice this year. Once with the pandemic, just like everybody else, and once with myself and how I chose to live my life. After a breakout 800 at the Shaner Invitational, I decided to make the switch from sprints and mid-distance to mid-distance and distance in May 2019. By June, I started summer cross country practices. This was a difﬁcult transition for me, going from the shorter distances on the track to longer, hillier, cross country courses. I was working hard, running solid workouts, and winning scrimmages and races, even at the beginning of my ﬁrst year. However, there was one thing that bothered me. I felt like I was different from everyone else on my team. I was new, I had never run anything over half a mile on the track, I felt like I wasn’t as smart as my teammates, and I weighed more. At the beginning of the season, in my head, I was bigger than almost every girl I ran against. All I wanted was to “ﬁt in” and to “be like everybody else.” So I made it my goal to “look like everybody else.” About a month into the competition season, in late September, I started to feel like, for lack of a better word, less than a human being. Not only was I restricting my food intake, I was also restricting my life. I had deleted all of my social media in order to be able to “focus on schoolwork and running.” So even as I was struggling, I had no one to talk to. As the season continued, I rarely had any energy, and most of the energy that I had was spent being in pain. My stomach always hurt. Instead of spending time with friends, a lot of my free time was spent Googling my stomach pain in hopes of ﬁguring out why nothing would help me. I was struggling to ﬁnish workouts, having to cut them shor t because I didn’t have enough strength to get through them. I even had to crawl on a long run once because of my stomach pain and the extreme lack of energy I had. But I was still winning races, so I ﬁgured I was doing everything right. Every time I looked up what I was feeling physically, I would get “real” results of “real disorders” and digestion problems, and I would even self-diagnose myself with some of them. I had always gotten ot her results, too, that I immediately dismissed. Every time I would look up a symptom, one of the last results I would get said “eating disorder.” Every time I looked up my symptoms with the word “runner” attached, the ﬁrst thing that would come up was a description of the female athlete triad, a disorder in which a female athlete loses her energy, her period, and ultimately some of her weight, even muscle. I thought this was impossible for me. In my mind, I didn’t only eat enough, I ate way too much, and the reason I was struggling was because I didn’t eat “healthy” enough. I didn’t know how much I weighed, but I knew I was getting smaller. I just didn’t know the degree. The Difference a Year Can MakePhoto credit: Julie Pelchar Cohen

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As the season progressed, things got worse instead of better. Instead of being strong enough to kick at the end of races, I was losing momentum and places. This was the most obvious at the state championship meet in 2019. When I started having trouble breathing close to the end of the course, I had no strength to support me to the ﬁnish and I was passed by 4 runners. It was demoralizing, but it still did not drive me to change my outlook on myself and how I was “living” my life. In fact, it made the situation worse: I convinced myself that if I wanted to avoid another “disaster,” I told myself I had to “eat healthier” and ultimately lose even more weight before Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park. I use quotation marks around “disaster” referring to my state meet performance because it was nothing compared to my race at Regionals. I was hoping to at least medal; ﬁnishing in the top 30 didn’t seem like it would be impossible. Well, that day, after the way I’d been treating my body, it was. I knew I was done from the start. I had absolutely nothing left to me. No muscle to get me through the hills. No energy at all even during the warmup and at the start. I felt and looked like a walking skeleton. Even one of the girls that had passed me at states medaled, but I ﬁnished 67th, and the split of my 2nd mile was a 7:15 — which is probably around my warm-up and cool-down pace. To be honest, I was too out of it to feel upset or angry. A few days later, I was still running even though I was weak and didn’t have enough strength to run up hills. I could only run about 9:00 pace on the treadmill. At this point I knew something was very wrong and I couldn’t go on like this anymore. I had been talking about it for months, but I ﬁnally decided to reach out for help from my doctor. Before we called, my mom warned me that it was unlikely I would get an appointment for a while because stomach pain, the primary issue listed on my record, wasn’t really an emergency. On December 5, 2019, she called the doctor’s ofﬁce and told them about the stomach pain and general weakness I had been experiencing. I think the woman who answered the phone felt it was more than that, and she asked if I could be taken out of school at that moment. After that, my mom called my Spanish class and said, “Caryn, I’m on the phone with the doctor’s ofﬁce, they want to see you right now. I can take you there as soon as I’m done with my last student.” The tone of her voice made me think she no longer thought it was less than an emergency. Within less than 2 hours I was out of school. My teachers already knew what was going on. Quite honestly, I think everyone did except me. When I got there I was taken right away and I walked back to the doctor’s ofﬁce. It's a routine procedure to have height and weight measured when you enter. On the scale, I didn’t look, and I wasn’t told, either. I waited a few minutes for my doctor to come back. I remember how excited I was to ﬁnally have this all end and feel like a human being again. Because all it would take was some kind of medication, some kind of diagnosis, and I would be completely ﬁne, right? I told her everything I had felt for the past 3 months. That was when I was completely blindsided. She told me, “Your stomach hurts because you don’t have enough food in it to keep it functioning properly. Your organs are shutting down. You can’t digest your food if you’re not eating enough to digest. Right now your body is holding onto everything it can, not digesting it, but using it for energy right away, because you’re barely surviving.” At the time, I didn’t believe her. Looking back though, it all just seems like common sense to me. But that’s what eating disorders do. They distort your reality and trick your brain into thinking you’ll never be good enough unless you’re, for me, “the skinniest girl on the starting line.” The scariest part of that day to me now was when I came back with, “I know I don’t have a problem, there are lots of other girls that weigh as much or less than I do.” And my doctor replied, “Caryn, then they have eating disorders too.” That’s what scares me the most, that eating disorders and female athletes are such a connected part of our sport. I think we all know someone in the running community who has experienced what I have. I know I have, and I still see it a lot more than I’d like to. I do what I can to help other female athletes and convince them that they can do so much better without being so hard on themselves, but it’s nearly impossible to “get through” to someone who is constantly inﬂuenced by diet culture in and out of sports and someone who sees eating disorders being romanticized on social media. This desperately needs to change, and that is why I chose to share my story. It is very difﬁcult, but I truly think that it’s worth it if I can help just one person see the importance of fueling their body. I remember on a recruiting call, a coach asked me, “Watching your progress has been so interesting. You just erupted this season. How did you get so much better in just one year?”

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Of course I expressed the importance of working hard, ﬁnding reasons to stay motivated, and consistency. But what I didn’t mention was how I decided to change the way I was living my life completely. In all honesty, I had to teach myself how to be a “normal” teenager again. I safely spent time out with friends, allowed myself back on social media to stay connected with people I didn’t see, and most importantly committed to staying on top of fueling. I let myself enjoy food again. That’s a big part of enjoying life, at least for me it is. It’s hard to be happy when you don’t let yourself eat what you want when you’re hungry. After my habits started to change, my running started to change, too. With more fuel and more things to be happy about, running became easier and more of a privilege than a chore for me. Both my strength and endurance improved signiﬁcantly and I became a consistent “negative splitter.” Having the energy and strength to run even faster at the end of a workout or race is an amazing feeling. That being said, my season in cross country this year was pretty much the opposite of my ﬁrst year. I was still having success, except a lot more, even though I was putting a lot less pressure on myself. I never had to walk during runs and rarely missed reps of workouts, which used to be a daily occurrence. The races I was the most proud of came at the end of the season. The state meet put how far I had come in a year on display for everyone to see. A hilly course on an unseasonably warm day proved to be a killer combination for so many incredible athletes, but I was able to ﬁnish strong, stronger than ever before, and walk away with 2nd place overall. Before the race I was terriﬁed, but so many other girls were too and I was absorbing their energy. But in the end, I was able to not just survive, but thrive, because I was strong, physically and mentally. I wholeheartedly believe that if I had taken on that course with the same conditions the year before, I may not have been able to ﬁnish, and especially not with the speed I had coming into the ﬁnish line. My season wasn’t over yet. My last race was AAU Nationals in Tallahassee, on the Apalachee course, four weeks after states, which was the same amount of time between states and regionals the year before. I would have to train on my own for that amount of time. So not only did that worry me, there was just one other problem. The date of nationals was December 5, so the race was exactly a year after I was taken out of school to be told I couldn’t run anymore because my body was shutting down. Not exactly a great anniversary. The thought of it scared me to the point that I almost didn’t want to go. In the end, going to the meet was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only did I have an amazing trip, I had an amazing race. I remember seeing my split at the mile and saying, “oh no, that was way too fast, I’m deﬁnitely going to die.” I kept waiting to lose steam. It never happened. I ran strong, ﬁnished strong, and came out with a 10th place ﬁnish against some of the best athletes in the country, along with a cross country PR of almost 30 seconds! And yet, my favorite thing from that day is a little patch that I keep to my bed that says “Cross Country All-American.” I mean, it’s just a patch, but to me it’s a reminder of how far I came in just one year. From not knowing if or when I’d compete again to All-American. I credit it all to my friends, family, teammates, coaches, and mentors who helped me learn how to truly live again. Sure, training is important, but it doesn’t matter what your legs can do if your head tells you you can’t. I told myself I would work as hard as I could, so I did. I told myself I would fully recover, so I did. And on December 5, 2020, as a product of everything else I’d done for myself, I told myself I would show everyone how far I’d come in exactly a year. So I did. Photo credit: Julie Pelchar Cohen

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We got the chance to interview Kaley Richards, a senior at UMass Lowell who is coming off an impressive senior indoor campaign capped by an All-American ﬁnish in fourth place at NCAA Indoor Nationals! In this interview, we discuss her race at nationals, her progression throughout college, and the opportunity to rep her hometown on the national stage among other topics. The Oval: First off, congrats on the All-American ﬁnish in the mile! Take us through that race and what you were thinking throughout the race! Kaley Richards: The prelims were deﬁnitely the biggest race of my life. I was extremely nervous but also recognized that there was no real pressure on me. My only goal in the prelims was to stay out of trouble and make it to the ﬁnal. I think I did a really good job staying relaxed and moving to the front when I had too. I went into the ﬁnals with a slightly different mindset. I wanted to be All-American and knew I would have to be more aggressive and stay towards the front of the race. I always do my best to talk to myself during races, reminding myself to stay relaxed but also trust my ﬁtness. The front of the race made a big move with 800m to go and I unfortunately missed it. I really wish I could’ve been top three, but I am truly so thankful to walk away from the race with a fourth-place All American ﬁnish. TO: You ended up running XC nationals two days later with an impressive 30th place ﬁnish; how did that double affect your race strategy if at all? KR: When I had the opportunity to run a fast mile in February I took it. The time I ran would later qualify for indoor nationals. The majority of my training had actually been geared towards cross country, so the double caused me to actually change some of my workouts to help me prepare more for the indoor mile. Regardless, I knew I had a strong foundation and could go into this cross country race conﬁdent. I told myself that I would most likely be a little tired and recognized that but would still give it my all. Again, I felt like there was no pressure on me. I wanted to show up and just give it my all. I knew there would be other girls in the same situation as me, so I wasn’t alone. TO: It looked like you were in really good shape last indoor season, dropping two 4:38s at Boston University! Obviously last year was cut short by COVID, how did that adversity affect your goals and mindset coming into this year? KR: I was actually shocked when I ran 4:38 twice last year. I knew I was in shape but didn’t expect myself to break 4:40. Although I ran well, it still wasn’t enough to qualify for indoor nationals. That was deﬁnitely a disappointment, but I knew I would have to continue training and strive to be better next year. When COVID cancelled everything, it was hard to deal with for a while. I was very upset. It felt like there was just so much uncertainty about what my running career would look like in the year to come, and I’m sure many other athletes felt that way too. However, with no races on the agenda my coach and I decided to just focus on getting in good training and also doing some time trials to stay motivated. I tried to think long-term about my goals and I really think that is what got me through it. COVID really taught me to appreciate the things I have and to never take things for granted. Q&A with UMass Lowell Star Kaley RichardsPhoto credit: Ross Mungeam Photography

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TO: What was the feeling like to get the chance to represent UMass Lowell — a program that is typically slept on — on the national stage, especially since you grew up in Lowell? KR: It made the opportunity extra special. UMass Lowell is a growing program and it felt incredible to show the country where we are headed. We have such a supportive athletic department. I felt so supported by everyone from Lowell. Articles about my performance were being shared by so many people including old middle school friends and even complete strangers told me how proud they were, and it meant so much. Lowell has a special place in my heart. It’s a city full of diverse, hard-working people and there is truly no other school I would have wanted to represent. It is hard to put in words, but Lowell is built on pride. All of my running foundation can be attributed to Lowell. You learn to be tough in Lowell and that has helped me get to where I am. TO: Looking at your TFRRS, you had insane progression throughout college (your recent performance in the mile at NCAAs was actually faster than your debut collegiate 1500!) What do you attribute this improvement to? KR: I attribute a lot of my improvement to staying physically healthy the last year and a half. I feel like I was able to build such a strong foundation through consistent training. I of course wouldn’t be where I am without my coaches. My head coach Gary Gardner has been very patient with me and instills conﬁdence in me. I believe in the training I do, and I think that is very important. Having my amazing teammates to train with has also been such a help. We all push each other and make each other better. I think it’s also important to attribute my success to my past injuries because I feel like they changed my whole perspective on running. Sitting out and missing training/races made me appreciate the sport more. My worst injury kept me out for about four months and I did a lot of cross-training but also really worked on the mental aspect of running. It is so important to talk positively to yourself. I often tell myself the body achieves what the mind believes. Obviously I still have days where I struggle, but I recognize that running and life in general aren’t always linear and that mindset in itself allows me to keep moving forward. So overall I would say being physically ﬁt and mentally healthy has allowed me to make such big improvements in my running. TO: What are your plans and goals for outdoor season? KR: I’m hoping the time I ran at Raleigh Relays (4:16.56 in the 1500) is fast enough t o qualify for regionals. Beyond regionals, I deﬁnitely want to make it to nationals in Eugene. That is currently where my mindset is. I’m trying to stay ﬂexible with my plans this season, and race whenever opportunities are available. I would like to walk away from this season with personal bests in the 800m, 1500m, and the 5k. TO: What advice would you share with your younger self if you got the chance? KR: I would tell myself to trust the process. Things will not always go as planned. You will question why things are happening the way they are but eventually everything will all work out. I would tell myself to go with my instincts and make decisions that are best for myself. Do not compare your life to anyone. Your journey will never be the same as anyone else's. You will face struggles and plateaus but do not give up. Surround yourself with people that make you happy and a better version of yourself. Quick Facts about Kaley Favorite pre-race meal: Morning race, English mufﬁn with peanut butter and some Cheerios. Evening race, southwest salad from Panera. Favorite song: "Levitating" by Dua Lipa If you couldn’t/didn’t run, what other sport would you want to be good at: Gymnastics Best thing to eat after a long run: A doughnut Favorite place to run/train: Lowell/Dracut state forest Dream vacation: Banff National park in Canada Favorite XC course you’ve ever competed on: Franklin Park in Boston Photo credit: Chris Alfond

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Joe Cullen, Duke University This article is not an attempt to say recent advancements in spike technology — most notably Nike’s Dragonﬂy and Air Zoom Victory spikes — aren’t responsible for some of the recent s u r g e i n r i d i c u l o u s t r a c k performances: A step-up in spike quality has clearly occurred. But then the question pleads: What’s the point of this story? State a few concessionary truths and call it a day? Simply put, no. Rather, it’s an attempt to paint a more complex picture, one with many more hues than the monochromatic hot takes on Twitter and LetsRun. To better understand the context, we must understand the idea of conﬁrmation bias, that we look for evidence that supports our narratives and disregard any competing pieces of information. This concept manifests itself in the "super spikes” controversy in two ways. Firstly, we take note of all the athletes whose post remarkable times and ﬁrst-place ﬁnishes in the new spikes, which is understandable: They naturally draw the crowd’s attention. But for every athlete putting on these spikes and hitting a huge PR, there’s another lacing them up simply to just produce mediocre or unassuming results. Of course we don’t notice them. Besides ﬁnishing towards the back of races and accordingly not drawing as much screen time, they don’t ﬁt the narrative of these spikes being the footwear equivalent of a cheat code. If these shoes were magical, wouldn’t everyone be guaranteed a new personal best at every race they run in them? That brings us to my second point: that the shoes lead us to ignore other factors in an athlete’s improvement. Again, I am not denying that they play a role in runners’ recent progressions, but to immediately discredit the fantastic performances of the past year is to ignore other simultaneous advancements in our sport. With athletes not having to race as much due to COVID, college students having more time to focus on the little things due to the shortcomings of Zoom University and training methods becoming more sophisticated and effective, a perfect storm has brewed to create the recent PR boom. It’s been a weird past year, and many records that were held as sacred and untouchable now don’t seem untouchable anymore. In a sport grounded in tradition, this has predictably rung some alarms across the track world. And yet, technological advancements have happened throughout the history of running, and we haven’t banned those, either. Otherwise, we wou ld still be running in leather spikes on cinder tracks. This isn’t a cry to say spikes have no impact on times! — they do, and that’s all right. Let’s enjoy the perfect storm of events — COVID, better training, better meets, and yes, spikes — that has brought track to this amazing renaissance over the past year. Super Spikes: An Exercise in Conﬁrmation Bias

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by Ashley Jones, High Point University Wouldn’t it just be easier to give up?! “...And then she saw the possibilities, the ﬁnish lines, the smiles, and what was meant to break her, reﬁned her.”! If I could have your attention for a couple of minutes, I would love to introduce myself.! I’m a girl. I’m a D1 track and cross country athlete. I’m an amputee. Did that last line catch you off guard? You might be wondering how an amputee is competing at this level of athletics, but I wasn’t always an amputee. Growing up, soccer ﬁlled my weekends, my afternoons, even the conversations in my home. I have competed in athletics from the early days of childhood and there was never a question of not being a competitive athlete in the Jones household. As I continued to grow up and compete, my aspirations grew to want to compete in middle school, high school, and I even thought about college. This plan revolved around what seemed like a perfect childhood and a well-thought-out plan with soccer. My family members were my biggest fans, especially my dad, who was deeply i n v e s t e d i n a l l o f m y s i b l i n g s ’ athletics.! Competition, athletics, and hard work are some things that connected me to my dad.! It was something that bonded us through different levels of experience and the aging of sports over time. The feeling of making my dad proud was something I strived for on the soccer ﬁeld and beyond.! However, my dad was not meant to be my physical cheerleader my whole life. In March 2016, my dad had a sudden heart attack and died instantly. No last game to share. No last family meal. No last goodbye. In the bleak moments of a normal Wednesday night, I was told that I no longer had a father on this Earth. So this was my new reality? Was this really true? A bond that was once shared between daughter and father has to now be felt through the heavenly realms and, until we meet again, this was now my journey. This grasping of uncertainty was only beginning. Five years ago, in the June that proceeded my dad’s passing, I was in a traumatic ATV accident that ultimately led to the amputation of my right arm. It was a combination of a vehicle going too fast, muddy dirt, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and praying that my life would be saved that day. The doctors decided that night in order to save my life and prevent an infection that could have killed me, an amputation would be the best solution.! In less than a 10-hour span, I was now a 14-year-old amputee, laying in a hospital bed, dazed by meds, squirming with pain, trying to comprehend this continued twisting of immense life changes as a young girl.! What I could clearly comprehend was: I was safe, I was still alive, I still had my loving family around me. But how do I make this pain go away and why does everyone keep looking at me like they might cry?! And what I couldn’t clearly comprehend was what my life would look like now… if it followed the expectations of how the world perceives a m p u t e e s o r people that are different:! My athletic dreams are unrealistic now. My life will be HARD. I will be sad a lot of the time and most likely I will have a hard time just getting out of bed in the mornings because of the physical and mental pain.! I will struggle because the world isn’t cut out for “people like me.” As the doctor automatically prescribed me anti-depressants, I thought this transition back to some “ n o r m a l c y ” m i g h t b e h a r d e r t h a n I e v e n expected.! However, without a hint of what tomorrow looked like, I was not just conﬁdent but I was sure that my life was not going to ﬁt into this “pity me” mentality. Passion through PainPhoto credit: Tim Cowie Photography

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To say this journey to where I am today was easy would be a complete overstatement, but not once in 5 years have I ever doubted that this process is going to show me what crazy heights and unwavering support system, dedication, pushing through a lot of pain, God’s strength and trusting the baby steps of progress look like.! The baby steps ﬁrst started as learning how to tie my shoes, do my hair, cut my food, and dress myself with one arm.! That progressed into learning what playing soccer as an amputee looked like, which turned into competing in triathlons, which transitioned into running track and ﬁeld.! But isn’t running with your legs anyways? Why would it be hard for s o m e o n e w i t h a n amputated arm? You’re right! Running i s w i t h y o u r l e g s . However, it does come with some more thought.! Neurologically after a traumatic amputation, your brain continues to send pain signals to the amputation site that comes across as what is called phantom pain, which I feel 24/7 in the form of a constant sharp numbing pain. The closest comparison I can come up with for this feeling is the pain you feel when you smack your funny bone really hard and the pain shoots to your ﬁngers. Take that pain, times it by 40, and all the time. If a competitor happens to bump my arm the wrong way, all of the angry, cut-off nerve endings in my arm forming a painful neuroma on my arm with ﬁre-causing pain that might make me throw up. My entire body overcompensates for the imbalance, tightening muscles in my back, traps, right leg, foot, etc.! What about lifting as a runner? We all know that is important, so how to do it safely?! I could go on, and yes running is with your legs, but as we all have unique bodies that come with difﬁculties, injuries, or compensations too, we also learn how to adapt.! Wouldn’t it be easier for me to just not try to deal with all of those complications that might regularly count me out of sports and just hang up my competitive aspirations?! To be honest it would be easier and more comfortable, but I also know that I would then count myself out of things that I never even tried seeing what could be. I would fall into the negative expectations of the world’s standard for people who are different.! My spirit has always been made to compete and push boundaries so why not do that still now and see what could happen?! I’ve taken on that mindset and decided I would run with it... literally. Having the chance to run and compete at High Point University has been the hardest and most exciting journey yet in this process of reﬁning myself as an athlete, student, friend, sibling, and daughter.! Through everything, and I am not perfect by ANY means, I have learned that if you give it the space to do so, the human body is more capable than we usually give it credit. The mind is even more powerful than that… and for me, trusting in a God greater than any pain I am experiencing has given me the desire to break more boundaries.!We are all on our own life paths searching, learning, and dedicating ourselves to what we believe is calling our names into our futures.! Our challenges are not the same and our shortcomings are not the same either. Just as I will never know fully what is going on in your story, you will never know what ﬁlls my days of high highs and then lows. Through the constant changes we should cheer others on to new ﬁnish lines, ask what we can do for one another, push each other towards our aspired futures and celebrate the times when we do rise… rise above the times that could’ve overcome us.! I will continue journeying, not by perfection, not through PRs, but because I am able to… because I am here, because I know I can be better, and because I have the ability to run.! For the moments that do push me to new heights, I trust in the greater plans of a King that has designed plans greater than my own. With that hope, I will continue to climb in anticipation to see what the view looks like on the other side. Photo credit: Tim Cowie Photography

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by Brett Haffner, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Cross country state meets are chaotic. They consist of 200+ guys all sprinting to get out fast, and getting to the ﬁrst turn is pure chaos — especially considering the dangerous ﬁrst turn at Detweiller Park. The Illinois state meet starts off with a long homestretch, winding into a sharp ﬁrst set of turns which are pretty dangerous. Coming into my senior year of high school, I knew getting out fast was going to be part of the plan in hopes of getting All-State for the ﬁrst time. Leading the state meet for 1.5 miles, however, was not a part of the plan. I came into the state meet with s o m e r e a l i s t i c a l l y h o p e f u l expectations. After placing 39th the previous year, aiming for at least top 25 in class 2A (All-State) seemed to be a given, but I had really improved over the last year. As a junior I had run 15:22 for 3 miles before getting that personal best down to 14:56 a few weeks prior to state as a senior. If I could have a good day, I knew I could ﬁnish in the top 10. But still, I was nowhere near thinking of trying to win the whole thing. There were three really talented guys in the race who were the favorites and I wanted to keep my eyes on them during the race. We hit the 400 meter mark fast, and to my utter surprise I was right in the front of the ﬁeld. Right before the turn there was only one runner ahead of me: I had zero idea who he was, but he was slowing down. I could have just sat on him, but there was a thought inside of me: “Take the lead. You’ll never have another state meet to lead.” So I did. That feeling was unbelievable. The 3A guys race wasn’t for another 2 hours, so I could hear a bunch of my friends cheering me on in the long, long homestretch. Friends who were very successful runners, friends who motivated me to do better and not be average anymore. I even saw some of my teammates screaming their heads off, not expecting this in the slightest. It sounds really cliche, but it really felt like I was running with an army of supporters right behind me. So, I ﬁgured I wouldn’t let up the lead quite yet. Yet, in the back of my head, I wondered, “Where are the studs? Where are the guys who are supposed to be in front?” I could not see what was going on behind me. I ﬁgured those guys would come up on me soon enough and I’d go right with them. More cheers, more realizations that I was doing something really stupid and really risky. I hit the mile in 4:40, easily the fastest I’d ever gotten out in during a cross country race. It was about ﬁve steps after the mile that a scene played out that I will absolutely never forget. I saw three people who I knew pretty well: my dad, my coach, and my rival high school’s coach. Coach Caldwell from Downers Grove South yelled something at me: “You’ve GAPPED the ﬁeld!!! Go get ‘em!!!” Huh? Where are they? Weren’t they right behind me? My autopilot during the ﬁrst mile had led me to be completely unaware that I was leading the Illinois 2A State Meet by 5 seconds. How I Became “The Bandit”Photo credit: MileSplit Illinois

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I headed into "The Triangle” still holding this lead and still wondering where the ﬁeld was. I knew these guys were talented and were surely coming right for me. The pipe dream of leading the state meet was slowly fading away and reality started to hit me like a truck. There aren’t as many spectators in the half-mile Triangle but I tried to hold my ground. Right as we hit the halfway mark, I was told they were right behind me. We made the turn back into the masses of the crowd, 1.5 miles in, and six guys ﬂew by me like mad. It was like I got introduced to a completely new race: hang on for dear life. The rest of the race hurt as I cramped up pretty bad around 2 miles. Even though I did not feel great, the second half of the race ﬂew by really quickly. Not much was memorable other than the occasional getting passed, as well as Ryan Hodge from Mahomet Seymour chirping me with a half-mile left, “We can do it, man!” I ﬁnished the state meet in 15:06, placing 13th, getting passed by 12 guys in the last 1.5 miles. Crossing the line, I had zero regrets. I had earned All-State for the ﬁrst time, ran not far off of my PR, and had a lot of fun doing it. Could I have probably done better if I hadn’t taken the lead? I deﬁnitely think so. Even as the "what ifs" crossed my mind, I couldn’t really focus on much: Friends, family, and coaches commended the "heroic" effort to go and lead the state meet. My teammates who were running actually had heard "Hinsdale South" over the loudspeakers after the mile, so they had zero clue what was going on either. Lots of banter and nicknames most deﬁnitely followed. What ended up solidifying this entire experience into the memory banks was what followed on social media. MileSplit Illinois reached out to me later that night and asked for a quick Q&A on the experience, which I was very happy to oblige for my ﬁrst interview of any sort. The next day, an article was published titled “Behold of The State Championship Bandit Runner.” I hadn’t thought much about the term "bandit," maybe just in the context of people forgoing an entry fee into road races and hopping in without a bib number. I just thought it was a funny nickname given, but people took a liking to it and it ended up sticking in some social circles. Getting ready for NXR Midwest the following week, I was super stoked to get into the Championship race and see how I could do against the best of Illinois’ 3A guys without the pressure of having to lead at all. Well, I was wrong. Arriving in Terre Haute, I somehow ended up seeded in one of the Open sections to my complete dismay. So what did I do? Found myself leading another race through halfway, getting called “The Bandit” once again by MileSplit. It wasn’t a bad day, as I took 2nd in that race, but I obviously would have preferred to ride the ginormous pack and see how I would fare. About 3 minutes after I ﬁnished, Mike Newman of DyeStat IL — now ILXCTF — came up to me, asking for an interview. I had talked with Mike a few times before, but only because my dad knew him from coaching endeavors — never for an interview. I was super excited! One comment Mike made to me during the interview stood out to me: “You weren’t a bandit, you earned your way into that race.” It made me realize that I wasn’t just an average joe, mid-pack guy in 2A anymore. Those last two races were big conﬁdence boosters for where I could soar to as a runner, and it showed that track season. I went from 9:40 to 9:20 in the 3200, as well as from 4:27 to 4:20 in the 1600. I was once reminded of that year that “one race doesn’t deﬁne you,” and that the summation of all parts builds yourself as a runner. Running is holistic. No fan that day would have guessed there were countless bad races, struggles, and other challenges leading up to that day. It just happened to look like I was having the best day ever out there. That race hasn’t deﬁned who I am, even a few years removed, but serves as a hell of a memory and reminds me that being brave just takes a small leap (or a small gap on the ﬁeld, rather). Excerpt from my running log, November 4th, 2018: "Am I the biggest dumbass for doing what I did? Maybe. Could have I raced better? Probably. Do I regret doing what I did? Absolutely not. I got the experience of a lifetime in being gutsy, taking a big risk at the state meet, of all places. But, in the end, I was brave. That’s really about it. ‘One race does not deﬁne you’ and this race certainly does not. I am really hungry for the rest of my senior year, and for food as well.”

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Hannah Steelman is a senior and eight-time All American at NC State University. She competed at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 12, 2021, to ﬁnish 8th in the 5000, and then raced on March 15 to ﬁnish 5th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. That performance led NC State to a runner-up team ﬁnish. The Oval: Take us through how the races —and the whole weekend — went for you. Hannah Steelman: The weekend was full of different emotions. The indoor 5k was a little disappointing. It was a tactical race in a bizarre way, deﬁ nitely the weirdest race I’ve ever run in. We were essentially running in-and-out 400s until 1k to go. That was just mentally draining, and unfortunately I didn’t have the kick to match my competitors. I ﬁ nished in 8th place, good enough for my seventh ﬁrst-team All-American honors. I know I shouldn’t complain too much about an All-American ﬁnish, however I expect more out of myself than 8th place. There are a few things I wish I had done differently in that race, which is what made it a good learning experience. So, I left that track in Fayetteville feeling unsatisﬁed and wanting vengeance. I channeled this energy into cross country. This, along with the excitement of chasing after a national title with my teammates, worked out well in the end. I was able to ﬁnish in 5th place at cross country NCAA Nationals — which was my highest ﬁnish ever at this meet — three days after the indoor 5k. Moreover, we got 2nd place overall as a team, and that was really special. I was really happy with how XC went, not just because of how I ﬁnished, but how I ran the race. I put myself in it from the gun, and when it got hard, I dug deep and focused on my teammates. I should also add that it was really cool to look up and see my teammates Kelsey and Katelyn right there with me for most of the race. TO: How did you prepare mentally and physically for this double? HS: Mentally I had to approach it one race at a time. I saw it as “let’s focus on the indoor 5k ﬁrst” and then for the three days in between my mind shifted to “cross country cross country cross country.” Physically I had to be keen on recovery — getting enough sleep, fueling and hydrating well, and getting lots of treatment from our athletic trainers and massage therapist. Throughout the training buildup to the races, we worked out on both the track and the grass so we were familiar with both. TO: Ho w d i d t h e t e a m mentality and goals from the NC State program inﬂuence how you approached the double? HS: I was deﬁnitely less nervous at these national meets than I have been in years past. We focus a lot on working together, so there was a calming feeling that came with lining up next to my teammates in both races. For cross country in particular, the bigger team goals we had set added an extra element of motivation. Interview with NC State All-American Hannah SteelmanPhoto credit: Jacob Seeber

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TO: What was the hardest part about competing at both championships? HS: The hardest thing for me was truly focusing on one event at a time. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and think too much about cross leading up to the indoor 5k, but I was equally excited for both. TO: If you had the choice to pick the order in which you ran the races (Editor’s Note: indoor was before XC), would you keep the order the same or run XC ﬁrst? HS: It worked out pr e t ty we l l the way it was, so I would keep it the same. Plus, the thought of reversing the two and running an i n d o o r 5 k after a hard cross country race hurts me, haha. TO: If you had to pick a favorite, would it be X C o r t h e indoor 5K? (and why?) HS: In most cases I would pick a trac k event over XC. But in this case, I have to go with XC over the indoor 5k. When it comes to indoor track, I personally prefer the 3k distance over the 5k. I didn’t run the 3k at indoor NCAA’s in order to set myself and the team up best for XC — it was on Saturday, whereas the 5k was on Friday. If this question pertained to an outdoor 5k versus XC, my choice would be different. TO: How would you describe your overall approach to training and racing throughout the pandemic? HS: At ﬁrst when the racing schedule was uncertain, it was tough staying motivated if I’m being honest. Being with my team helped. With every run, workout, and eventual race I became more thankful that I was healthy and able to do this with them. I had to take advantage of every racing opportunity that presented itself, because they were few and far in between. TO: What are your plans and goals for outdoor season? HS: I want to run fast times, make it back to NCAA’s and have a strong showing there, and make the steeplechase ﬁnal at the Olympic Trials in late June. Q u i c k F a c t s a b o u t Hannah Favorite pre-race meal: The classic oatmeal with banana, peanut butter, and honey. It’s basic I know, but it never fails. And coffee of course. Favorite song: Currently, my favorite is "Wants and Needs" by Drake and Lil Baby. If you know me, you know I’m a big Drake fan so I’ve been listening to his newer EP non-stop since he released it. My goal is to be able to rap Lil Baby’s whole verse. I’m also loving JB’s song “Peaches.” If you couldn’t/didn’t run, what other sport would you w a n t t o b e g o o d a t : Basketball for sure. Best thing to eat after a long run: I love brunch food and sweets, so 9 times out of 10 I’m making pancakes. But a good breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese and avocado always hits too if I go the savory route. Favorite place to run/train: Boulder/Nederland, Colorado or Raleigh, NC. Dream vacation: A trip to the Australia, staying on the beach and then exploring the rest as much as I can. Favorite XC course you’ve ever competed on: My best cross country race ever was on Oklahoma State’s course, so that might have to be it now. Yes, it was brutal, but there are great memories associated with it for me. Photo credit: NC State Athletics

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with Carson Tillman, Clemson University The Oval: What momentum has #SaveClemsonXCTF gained over the past few months? Carson Tillman: I’d say we really have built things from the bottom up. All the social media outlets we use were created with the intent of raising awareness and producing updates regarding the status of the team and how supporters can offer their support and assistance. Slowly, we have built loads of momentum and outreach, stemming from professional athletes of the sport to senators and political ofﬁcials of varying degrees. This support has not only meant a lot to us as a team, but more importantly allowed for us to gain the attention and movement we need to make a change. As far as actions go, we have produced numerous videos and statements to highlight our progress. We have also gained support and coverage by many individuals, businesses and media outlets. Over the past few weeks we have put up a few billboards in the greater Clemson area to gain local and passing through support. Most importantly, a class action lawsuit has been threatened against Clemson University for depriving current and potential male athletes of equal participation and opportunities in violation of Title IX. Further information of the lawsuit can be found upon @saveclemsonxctf accounts and other outside media outlets. In total, we have raised a multitude of voices and attention across almost every avenue imaginable. We plan to continue sharing our stories, publishing media, and showing what we are worth on the track to keep gaining momentum and attention until action is taken. TO: How did the team’s success indoors contribute to #SaveClemsonXCTF? CT: Starting with the team’s success at the ACC Indoor Championships, we really tried to collectively prove a point with our performances. Both our men's and women’s teams took ﬁnishing in the top ﬁve teams in placing, not to mention we also had numerous top-placing individual performances. From this, we had a total of six individuals represent Clemson at the national level for the NCAA indoor championships. Our presence and competition at both levels should be more than enough to prove our worth in terms of athletics. In my eyes we prove to be a program that produces athletes who are more than capable of competing at the highest of levels. And when you don’t even look at the results, seeing what was truly put into achieving these accolades and performances is what speaks the most volumes. Carrying the notion on our shoulders for the entire season that our school does not value our representation or ability to compete is no small burden. However, the fact that we collectively still wake up every day with the intent and mentality of doing all it takes to compete proves we have no desire to just simply give up. The success we built upon during the indoor season is just the beginning for what we want to prove. All in all, we want our success to speak for itself --- where even if the program may be eliminated, we will be known for how hard we fought for what we love. TO: What do you think is contributing to the administration's hesitance to reinstate the program despite its immense support and success? CT: Personally, I am unsure of the speciﬁc reasons why the administration hesitates to reinstate the program. However, as I stated, we will continue to do all we can possibly do to be heard and prove why we deserve to be a program that represents Clemson. All we can do at this point in time is continue to raise awareness and support. TO: How has the track community come t o g e t h e r a r o u n d Clemson to support #SaveClemsonXCTF? CT: The track community is really something special. Of all levels alike we have had immense support. The attention had ranged from collegiate and high school teams across the country, professionals of the sport, and even many young athletes who aspire to compete at the college level one day. Even outside the track community, there are many people who just want to simply provide their support for a situation they believe is wrong. I, amongst the rest of the team, cannot even begin to express what it means to have such support and hope for our ﬁght. As we continue to ﬁght on, we can only hope to ﬁght alongside people of the sport that share the same love we do. TO: On that note, how can readers help the movement? CT: The biggest thing readers can do is share our movement. The more attention and momentum we receive, the louder we are heard. Everyone’s voice counts in this, no matter what background, ability, or knowledge of the sport and/or team. For all information and updates regarding the status and available ways of helping, https://linktr.ee/saveclemsonxctf can be accessed as a hub for all efforts. Alongside this, all social media accounts are found @SaveClemsonXCTF. Save Clemson XCTF: Their Progress and How You Can Help

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by Douglas Petrick, Upper St. Clair High School When did you begin your relationship with running? Close your eyes, and what do you see? Toeing the line for your ﬁrst race on the track. Bonding with teammates over long bus rides. Lacing up your ﬁrst pair of spikes for a fall cross country race. I’d bet the origins of your running journey can be traced back to your teenage years. My relationship with running has taken me many places — literally and ﬁguratively. As a high school coach and teacher, I’ve been fortunate to stay connected to the sport even though my scholastic racing days are long gone. In the fall, winter, and spring I coach distance runners at Upper St. Clair High School. These are the reasons why I coach. Feed the Spark for Each Athlete Each athlete is inspired to chase the sport for different reasons. As a high school coach, it’s my duty to feed that spark. In these formative years, athletes grow astronomically from ninth to twelfth grade. How do you meet the needs of an entire program a n d s t i l l k e e p i n d i v i d u a l personalities and ability levels motivated? Focus on long term growth. Write training that progresses each runner week to week, month to month, season to season. Never make choices to feed your own ego as a coach. Growth over the long haul is paramount, even though it’s seldom a linear process. View competitions as teachable moments, regardless of time or ranking. Remember, there are no wasted efforts. Emphasize running paces based on the athlete’s perceived level of effort. There’s plenty of variables to think about when beginning a training session --- weather, terrain, time of day --- and those are just environmental conditions. Consider the athlete’s stress level, academic load, and quality of sleep. Respect paces and feedback from each athlete with a holistic view. Enjoy the moment. Distance training is challenging, but at the high school level it shouldn’t feel like a daily grind. Grinding makes sharp blades dull. Appreciate the time together with the team. During the warm-up and after the cool-down, check in with your runners. Get to know them outside of athletics. Artist? Foodie? Future engineer? It’s these conversations that athletes remember long after the season ends. Flex Some Creative Muscle There’s a scientiﬁc side to coaching. The scientist thinks in terms of macrocycles, microcycles, and mesocycles. The scientist determines what to emphasize during each training day, week, or cycle. In contrast, there’s an artistic side to coaching, a side that keeps the big picture in focus. The artist deciphers how the pieces ﬁt together. The artist discovers how to make it work for the current group of athletes. Express yourself through creativity in coaching. How we structure training reﬂects our personalities as coaches. What’s important to you as a coach? I favor workout sessions with multiple parts, since breaking any task into chunks makes it more manageable. I enjoy utilizing a variety of paces for athletes, because this improves the athlete’s skill set. I appreciate the power of routine in training, as it reduces the athlete’s anxiety level and often leads to breakthroughs. As I’ve grown as a person outside of coaching, it’s had a direct impact on my value system as a coach. Creative pursuits such as teaching, writing, and reading have ampliﬁed my authenticity in athletics. Reﬂect and Grow each Season Evolving as a coach is an iterative process, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the job. I wouldn’t want to follow the same training plan each fall. Where would the fun be in that? Sure, growth is challenging and uncomfortable. But if you value improvement, evolving is vital for all stakeholders. To be clear, I’m not suggesting to wipe the training slate completely clean e a c h s e a s o n . I ’ m a d v o c a t i n g f o r streamlining what works season to season. Subtle changes year to year may not appear profound to someone within the program, but when compounded over a career they appear more deﬁned. Focus on communication. Data from races provide you with feedback, but so do simple conversations with athletes. I’ve learned tons debrieﬁng with athletes post-competition and post-season that have helped inform change. Articulating, listening, and processing accelerate learning. Transparency is the pathway to growth. Opening the books to your program with a coach you respect serves as a catalyst to change. A fresh set of eyes can reinforce modiﬁcations that you may plan to make. Some of the most productive coaching conversations I’ve had occurred over a meal, a cup of coffee, or on an easy run. Leverage these connections to help you better serve your athletes. Why I CoachPhoto credit: James Rieker

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by Ian Johnson, Ashland University It was just over a year ago on March 12, 2020 when student-athletes across the country went into shock as the remainder of NCAA winter and spring sports championships and seasons were cancelled due to COVID. As a current track & ﬁeld and cross country athlete for Ashland University, I too remember my initial reactions to hearing the news. At ﬁrst, it was a feeling of disbelief that I couldn’t even comprehend. As a distance runner, I had gotten used to racing season after season year-round for almost as long as I can remember. The fact that there were no foreseeable races in the future was a very foreign thought for me to process. We were separated out of nowhere from our teammates and coaches for what would eventually be a nearly 7-month stretch. Though I did my best to remain optimistic, I found things soon became a struggle. F o r t h e w e e k s following the breaking of this news I kept training, doing “business as usual” with the hopes that some opportunities would begin to arise to make up for the lack of races. After keeping this mentality for some time, it became clear to me for whatever reason that this might be wishful thinking, and it would likely be a while before I toe the line again. Throughout the late spring and early summer I found myself in a huge mental rut. I struggled to ﬁnd motivation to get out the door, wasn’t enjoying running like I normally do, and found anxiety creeping in constantly. There was a 2-3 week period where I was barely running at all — relative to what could be considered a normal training week for me —!just due to the fact that running didn’t feel worth it. Despite this really low period I was eventually able to get back to running at a normal level again later in the summer, though mentally things still weren’t much easier yet. Things really started to swing back for the better when we were able to move back to campus in the fall and start practicing with the team again. While our cross country season got cancelled too, just being able to be back and running with your team again made things feel like less of a chore, and once again I felt some motivation and hope that eventually we would step on the track again, and that the work would be worth it. Soon, I found myself doing workouts and training at a higher level than I ever had before. Our team did a few time trials throughout the fall, both on the grass and the track, which really helped as it allowed us to have something to look forward to and train for. Though there were not yet any real races, I felt that I was once again ready whenever the chance came.Highs & Lows: The Year That Wasn’tPhoto credit: Ashland Athletics

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Finally, we began to start racing again this indoor track season in January. While things were a bit different this time around with no spectators, frequent COVID tests, and wearing masks to meets, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we were willing to do whatever we had to in order to be able to step o n t h e t r a c k a n d compete again. As racing became a regular thing on the schedule again, I found myself remembering why I love this sport so much after such a (relatively) long time away from normalcy. The atmosphere of competing, the nerves before racing, and the emotional highs and lows that you experience are all a part of why we got involved with this sport at o n e p o i n t o r another. Now, even if I felt sick over how nervous I was for a race, I was able to take a step back and remember that for so long I’ve been waiting to feel this way again. The loss of a ye a r of competition made it much more valuable once it returned. Though I make an effort to not let running control my happiness in life, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t tough to go without it and wasn’t great to have it back. This indoor season would eventually bring me personal bests in every event I ran in from 800m-5000m, my ﬁ rst conference title, qualiﬁcation to nationals, my ﬁrst two All-American honors in the DMR and the mile, and at the pinnacle e v e n o u r m e n ’ s t e a m winning the NCAA DII N a t i o n a l Championship. " These things were all great, but at the end of the day just being able to be back enjoying this sport (in a semi-normal state) again has made me truly realize how you can never take things for granted. "Even still today, us athletes realize that at any point these opportunities can be taken away at any time. While this was just one brief account of what the craziness of last year has brought me, I’m sure many other athletes in our sport (and others) can relate to how I’ve felt during this time in one manner or another. "Things seem to be slowly but surely returning to normal, but in the meantime I will make sure to take advantage of and appreciate every opportunity I get to be back with my teammates, competitors, and coaches at track meets again.Photo credit: Ashland Athletics

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by Nick Dahl, Yale University Standing in Coxe Cage (the indoor track facility at Yale) this past week, I felt something that no senior should feel while still in college: immense nostalgia for things not quite yet gone. It had been a couple of months since I last stepped onto my home track, and they had not been easy months by any stretch of the imagination. This past winter had teeth that it was not afraid to ﬂash. We fought for inches in New Haven, blowing through the city’s snow plow budget while still in January, but often to no avail as the glacial amounts of snow kept us buried during weeklong stretches. For runners with the means to do so, the answer to this predicament typically runs through one very narrow, stationary road as we hit the treadmills or indoor tracks, but that was not an option this past year. Campus policy restrictions stood between us and reasonable means under which to train, forcing Strava maps that could make a grown man cry — and if you don’t at least weep, then you’ve never felt the soreness that 200 left turns in an hour can leave. It is no secret that the Ivy League has not, and will not, return to competition this year. Spring marks the fourth consecutive season of competition we’ve missed as a team, the four last seasons in which I would have competed. Through that time I’ve vacillated greatly from support, grief, understanding, occasional resentment, and eventual disappointment at these league-wide decisions. It is impossible to watch the world of athletics return to some semblance of normalcy on all levels high school through professional and not feel this way. When peer institutions are ﬁnding a way to make it work, it is only fair to feel that way. My teammate said it best when he noted that the Ivy League considers itself a leader in the NCAA, but you cannot be a leader if others are not following. At no point do I want my thesis in this article to resemble one of adamant and unwavering advocacy for athletics without recognition of the global pandemic we have all lived through. In fact, I was in total support, and continue to be conﬂicted about, the active participation of student-athletes in sports under such extreme risks, especially in the name of maintaining proﬁt streams. Without straying too far into that discussion of athlete commoditization without compensation (which, rest assured, I have thoughts about) I will simply say that I have been extremely cautious in protecting my own health and the health of those around me throughout. No, it is not necessarily the outcome that I reject. It is simply the way in which it was done. With absolute disregard for our sport, I feel as though my institution has failed to accommodate, innovate, and deliberate with regards to emergency policy. At no point has it felt like consideration was given to the policies that restrict our practices, access to facilities, and the manner in which exceptions were made for athletes. In no way was this clearer than the treatment of eligibility for athletes who lost a season, or several seasons, to the pandemic. The Ivy League granted a waiver to graduating seniors to permit them to participate as a graduate student at their current institutions during the 2021-22 academic year on February 11th, nearly six weeks after the deadline for applications had passed. Six. Weeks. This came after months of students being told that no exceptions were going to be made. Any student interesting in continuing their academic and athletic careers was forced to apply exclusively elsewhere under this prior knowledge, which made the policy feel uninformed at best and performative at worst, a ceremonial but hollow extension of the proverbial olive branch. It was ultimately a decision that did not change anyone’s situation, which made it all the more infuriating. Neither Whimper Nor Bang

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When we were allowed to return, we received “one size ﬁts all” instructions for how practices were allowed to proceed that were suffocating, both ﬁguratively and literally. For weeks at the beginning of the semester, students living off-campus such as myself were instructed not to run off-campus. Instead of being able to retreat to remote canal paths, bike paths, and trails, we had to run in the most trafﬁ cked blocks of New Haven past students and faculty alike at much higher risk. When I run with housemates who are part of my bubble, we are required to wear masks at all times, no matter the pace. For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of running in freezing rain with a face covering, it resembles sitting at the bottom of a lake with a pool noodle that is about a centimeter above the water line, and every time a boat passes you get half of the breath you were expecting. It feels as though, broadly, the administration is resolved to entirely letting our careers walk into the sunset. A small price paid in their eyes for the reduction in liability. What hurts the most for me is to see friends who had such a genuine love of the sport and passion for the team resolve to this fate, and who can blame them? Every consecutive cancellation of a remaining season hurt less and less. I watched as friends in winter sports grieve when they found out that their ﬁnal season was cancelled when I had grown accustomed to the news, having heard it twice before already. And for those of us who continue to try our best to make something of the year, it feels as though we are burdened with institutionalized and systemic hurdles. Limited access to gyms led my house to invest piece by piece in equipment. We joke that with the total amount that has now accumulated, we can start charging memberships once we set up a front desk. So here I am, with two months to graduation, being given a chance to reﬂect on my time. I am fortunate in the fact that my running career has two more years left in a graduate capacity, and that I’ve kept my health and training throughout this time. Frankly, I do not know what I would have done without them in quarantine. This sport continues to be the one thing that brings me a sense and deﬁnition of self like nothing else can, and this last year has reminded me to cherish my next two years deeply. Airing these grievances formally gives me the chance to let them go like paper boats onto a lake, so that I can take away the meaningful and beautiful parts of my time, and cherish those memories with no asterisk. At the end of the day, it was this team that will be what I hold most dear when I reﬂect on a thoroughly odd collegiate experience. I grew because of them, learned from them, and admittedly took on more of their ridiculous colloquialisms and patois than I care to admit. I would not have traded a minute of it, nor would have I done anything differently.

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The Oval sat down with Nebraska All-American George Kusche to discuss his recently announced grad transfer to NAU, South African heritage, and his development both physically and mentally within the sport. The Oval: For people who don’t know you, what would be a brief introduction for what you want people to know about George? George Kusche: I’m an undergraduate student at University of Nebraska and I’m graduating in May to pursue a master’s degree in statistics at NAU. TO: Did you intentionally not mention running there? GK: Yeah, I like to keep running in a box. I don’t like it to consume my whole life. When I train, I’m a runner and an athlete. But when I’m not, I don’t want to think of myself as an athlete but as just a person. I think it’s very counterproductive to let running consume your whole life, because when things go downhill, you made this thing your whole life and if it goes downhill, what then? I still make it important but just open the box when I train and close the box when I’m not training. TO: Before Nebraska, you had the chance to represent South Africa at U20 World Junior Championships in Poland. Can you run through that experience and what was it like? GK: It was actually very interesting. Until then, I wasn’t as serious about track as I am now. That was my ﬁrst stage of a real big stage. In high school, I focused on the 800, where my time was 1:50. I was a bit banged up so I began my training in January, and I started off the season with a 1:56 which wasn’t very fast at all and starting off with high hopes, I didn’t know what to expect. I got better and better each week and I ended up running 1:47 at nationals in April, which I was really happy about and got the chance to compete at World Junior Championships. I hadn’t competed anywhere that big and that was really a life-changing experience for me. It was a very formative experience and it opened up a huge passion for running. Going there was an awesome experience with awesome teammates and I ran decently, I think I ran a 1:47.5 in prelims. TO: Do you think that experience makes the big races at Nebraska seem easier? GK: It was ﬁve years ago, so not really. It’s good knowing I’ve persisted through moments of pressure but it’s so long ago that I can’t really say it’s affecting me. TO: You came onto the scene in 2018 for Nebraska, where you got 24th at Pre-Nationals but then you got 3rd at Big Tens, running 23:39, so what was that race like getting 3rd at your ﬁrst conference championship? GK: I was very surprised by that result. Before I came to the US, I was an 800 meter athlete. I didn’t know anything about mileage or distance races. But Nebraska transformed me into a distance athlete. I increased my volume to 60-70 miles a week from 40 in South Africa, and at the beginning of the season I was still adapting to it. Each meet, I got a little bit better starting at a local home meet and then getting 24th at Pre-Nats. Big Tens was a big surprise, I put myself in front to see how long I could hang on and hung on Oli Hoare and Morgan McDonald for as long as I could until I fell off with a kilometer to go. Interview with All-American and NAU Transfer George KuschePhoto credit: Nebraska Athletics

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TO: After that, you had a good ﬁnish to the season, getting 4th at regionals and top 60 at nationals as a freshman. Heading into indoors, was it a good conﬁdence booster or were you just focused on continuing training and growing? GK: It made me build up a very good base, which I hadn’t done before in my life. I was a lot more positive about my future performances because I had a good base in me. Looking back at it, it made me a more consi sten t runner and perform more consistently at a h i g h e r l e v e l . I managed to break 4 when it matters (I had done that in high school) and ran a 3k PR with a 7:56, which I was really happy with going up in distance. Big Tens went all right, I was a bit shocked at the conference’s depth and it made me hungry for outdoor season. TO: After those two successful seasons, did you still think outdoor was your favorite season or did those two kind of affect your viewpoint? GK: I associate outdoor with my most positive memories because of the weather, I do not appreciate the extreme cold that Nebraska gets during the winter. And also because I feel that outdoor is what matters and indoor is preparation for outdoors. I grew to appreciate cross country a lot more than I ever expected, though. It’s great for base preparation and I love the team aspect of it. So even though outdoor is the most important, cross country is a really great opportunity to run. TO: I think that’s a perfect segway actually. You’re about to join the guys over at NAU where they preach the team and running for each other. You deﬁnitely took this decision seriously, and obviously the success speaks for itself, but do you think the team culture there drew you over the most? GK: I would absolutely say so. When they reached out, I was surprised because a team like NAU doesn’t need any single individual for their program. Their team culture is amazing and it helps their performances be more sustainable because they can run for something bigger than themselves. If they were just running for themselves, they might get a national title here or there but running for the team provides a bigger purpose and helps them win sustainably. TO: How much eligibility do you have left to compete? GK: I still have 2 more seasons of cross and indoor, and I plan on competing this outdoor season so I will only have one season of outdoor. TO: You were discussing the concept of a box with running, and now you’re going to get your Master’s Degree in Statistics. But now that you’re going to NAU, it’s looking like the possibility of a pro contract is getting realer. Is that becoming more of a serious possibility for you? GK: Yeah, I deﬁnitely dream of going pro. My intention has shifted and I deﬁnitely intend to pursue that. And there’s nowhere better to set me up than Flagstaff under the guidance of Coach Smith. So yes, I deﬁnitely want to see how good I can get and try to become one of the world’s best. TO: A lot of people in our running community divide Boulder and Flagstaff as the main two places out west for running. Have you ever gotten the chance to visit Flagstaff? GK: I have not. I entered the portal in the middle of the semester and visits were suspended so I wasn’t able to go. But I’ve heard stories and I’m extremely excited to see what it’s all about. Photo credit: Nebraska Athletics

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TO: I was looking at Nebraska’s history and noticed that even in the smack dab of the United States, they have a rich history of bringing in South African runners. The only other Nebraska runner who qualiﬁed for NCAA Cross Country Nationals three separate times was Jean Verster, who was also South African. Is that someone you looked up to growing up or were there any other South African distance runners who you grew up trying to be like? GK: Jean Verster is still very involved with the sport in South Africa, he coaches an elite group and is still contributing to the sport. So yeah, I deﬁnitely knew about him, we’ve had some dinners together and I think he was and still is great for the sport and contributes to the local scene in South Africa. TO: You came from a smaller town near Pretoria, was the focus growing up for you on distance running or was it focused more on farming and a smaller life? GK: I went to primary school in Malelane. I grew up there and at that time you basically did all the sports, so I competed in rugby, cricket, swimming, and track & ﬁeld. I did run in primary school as well, for fun, but I would say my main sport was rugby…and I went to high school in a big high school, 300 miles away from my hometown, and I tried out for the rugby trials and didn’t get a good team, so I tried out for running and excelled from my freshman year of high school. TO: This year there’s the Summer Olympics, and it’s looking like the way you’re progressing you’re going to be able to put yourself in the mix for Olympic contention for South Africa. Where do you think you can see yourself being most conﬁdent in qualifying for an Olympic spot? GK: Yeah, at this stage, deﬁnitely the 1500. As of now, I would like to try and qualify for the 1500. TO: Will you have a chance to run after graduating for Nebraska? GK: Yeah, I will be competing in Big Ten Championships in May and hopefully NCAA Nationals in June and competing for Nebraska. TO: This last year in cross, you won the Big Ten. You are the champion in the Big Ten… what was it like running that race, and you made an emphatic move… was it the exact same mentality as 2018…or did you feel like “this is my year, this is my time?” GK: I deﬁnitely think I had matured enough to win the Big Ten, I put in really good training in December, and I came back to the [United] States about two weeks before the Big Ten Champs feeling in really good shape. I did a really impressive workout I think about 12 days out… after that workout it gave me the conﬁdence to know I can win this thing... My race plan was “I’m gonna put myself out there and see if I can dominate...” I’m grateful I could make history like that, and I’m grateful for the support of my coach and my school and my teammates. TO: Could we ask what that 12-day workout was? GK: It’s sort of a cross country strength workout. It was 3x1 mile with 3.5 minutes recovery, then 12x300s, with 100 meter jog recovery. I could hit 4:14, 4:14, 4:15 pretty comfortably, and then 46s and 47s for the 300s. TO: How do you want your time in Nebraska to end? GK: I obviously want my last season to end in a success... I struggled a lot this indoor season, and it’s really hampered my ability to train as I would’ve hoped, I want to have positive memories of Nebraska as I do now, but if I can manage to run well and do it for my coach to thank him for all that he’s done for me over these past three years it’ll be very special. TO: All right, ﬁnal question, if you could get a long run together, six other people, and you’re just going for a run, who are these people you are going to bring together? GK: Well, immediately what comes to mind is some Big Ten guys who I have a lot of respect for, guys like Ben Veatch and Morgan Beadlescomb, I think they’re very high-caliber athletes, but if I had to choose now I would deﬁnitely say without a doubt any six of my future NAU teammates. TO: Thanks for coming on, and good luck and a good move to Flagstaff. We wish you the best! Photo credit: Nebraska Athletics

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by Ryan Vargo, Virginia Tech Running Club This quiet and extensive gravel trail provides runners with over 50 miles of pure nature. Winding through southwestern Virginia, runners get to experience scenic overlooks, gorgeous bridges, and open ﬁelds. With very little elevation change, the NRT is perfect for the hardest of tempos or the easiest of recovery runs. Starting in Draper, Virginia, it is only 4 short miles to the iconic Hiwassee Bridge. Along this journey you will get to experience countless small bridges and trestles overlooking grand valleys. After crossing the bridge, the trail joins up with an abandoned railroad that dashes through tunnels and runs parallel to the houses along the river. While this is a gravel trail, runners who want a soft surface aren’t out of luck. There are moderately sized grass shoulders on both sides of the gravel trail that ﬁt one to two people. My farthest long run (at the time) was completed on this trail. I cruised 15 miles in total on the trail and felt great at tempo pace. The beautiful scenery, fresh air, and cool breeze almost guarantee a runner’s high. If you're looking for a new place to get in you r n ext , a n d superior, Saturday long run or just a nice afternoon walk, the NRT is never a bad choice. Rating: by Abdirizak Ibrahim, University of New Mexico Coming into nationals I had high hopes for myself. The whole season I wanted to ﬁnish on a high note, and before the race I was quite nervous. This was my ﬁrst time running a 10k. Yes, I’ve run multiple 8-kilometer races before, but a 10k and a brutal course, you put that together, you got to be a little anxious. For me I knew I was quite ﬁt and training had been going quite well coming into this race. I remember telling my coach that I was going to be an All-American, but I did not know how far down the line that number was going to be. I was an All-American the year previous at Junior College Nationals, so I had high expectations for myself and I wanted to be an All-American at the NCAA level as well. The tactics were very simple — I knew I had to be patient and not go out hard and to be somewhere in the middle in that ﬁrst loop, then on the second loop to work my way up the ﬁeld. There was no pressure from my coaches, all they told me was to be patient and to be taught and that my ﬁrst 10k was gonna go well. Overall I think I did a very good job at running my own race and I can say I l e a r n e d something and got a good experience at my ﬁrst NCAA Cross Country National Championships.NCAA XC Nationals Race RecapPhoto credit: Mike Scott, University of Rhode Island AthleticsReader's Review: New River Trail

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1. "Downtown Anthem" by D-Whitty This song means a lot to me because I made it myself! The idea of this song was to manifest a good celebration after a race. 2. "Sauce It Up" by Lil Uzi Vert 3. "Jump" by Van Halen 4. "6 Foot 7 Foot" by Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz 5. "Highlights" by Kanye West I listened to a lot of Kanye in high school. This was the song I listened to before I had my breakout race. 6. "War" by Vince DiCola Being from Philadelphia, I am a huge Rocky fan! I watch a speciﬁc scene from Rocky 2 before a big race, and this song stood out to me. 7. "Horse" by PnB Rock, Kodak Black & A Boogie wit da Hoodie 8. "Trap This Way (This Way)" by Lil Uzi Vert 9. "Hibachi" by Lil Keed ft. Young Thug 10. "Simon Says" by Pi’erre Bourne The Pre-Race Playlist: Dave Whitﬁeld, Virginia TechWinter Dress Code: A Haiku by Joe Cullen Shorts over your tights Indicates that you're a noob Dress accordingly Ego Death by Let’s Run Burner I search my name on Let’s Run 'Cause I ﬁnd reading insults fun No hits, the damage could be worse Being slow: a blessing and a curse Duel of the Fates by Dr. Strickland Three miles to go, legs are feeling great Little do I know of my sad fate Chipotle from last night rears its head “I can make it back,” I foolishly said Two miles to go, bargaining with myself: Prioritize this run or my health? Stomach churning, the timer ticks To make it back, I need my best kick One mile to go, desperation abounds Will anyone notice if I use the ground? Too many pedestrians, I march on Any remaining hope long gone Against all odds, I outwill my body What’s that? A porta-potty? A porta-potty! Moments from disaster, I’m in a trance Of thankfulness, for I didn’t shit my pants Emergence by Ethan Hermann an ashen pale face emerges from the woods that enraptured mystery those who knew him, cheered those who didn’t, wondered a champion of the woods came out of nowhere but don’t we all come from somewhere unknown? Poetry CornerPhoto credit: Virginia Tech Athletics

The Oval Magazine (APRIL 2021)

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