Q: You qualified for Nationals for the mile in the first track meet of the season, what does that mean for you to qualify in the first meet of the season?
A: I was happy with it, it kind of takes away a little of the pressure throughout the rest of the season knowing that I have a spot at Nationals and I can for sure go in one event so it was very gratifying just to know that a lot of my hard work that I did in the fall paid off early.
Q: Last year was your last cross country season; do you miss it at all?
A: No (Ha-ha). I like more of the mid-distance stuff like half mile and the mile so cross country was good and I loved competing, but I really don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.
Q: For the past three years, this track team has spent the whole month of March traveling to Saint Angela’s school in Chicago to help teach them about track, talk a little bit about that and what it means to you to give back?
A: I really enjoy doing that every season. I guess it is a big part of my life and I always like to reach out to others and do things to help other people in my spare time. Especially, just teaching these kids the basics of running and seeing how they improve over the month and seeing how much they really like to run. It is good to inspire younger kids.
Q: What would be your advice to a young person growing up who is interested in running?
A: I would say just stick with it because I think it’s kind of something that can be really discouraging at times and a lot of people don’t understand the mentality of running and sometimes it’s not fun, but I think that especially being on a team and working hard can really pay off for you in the end. I would just encourage them to stick with it, it’s tough but the rewards are there.
Q: When did you become interested in running?
A: I became interested in running in about sixth grade. I started doing track; I never really did any other sport just because I was a little uncoordinated (Ha-Ha).I thought track could be something that I could start with and I didn’t mind running.
Q: Who has been a supporter of you over your lifetime?
A: I would have to say my dad; he is the one who really told me to stick with running. I wanted to quit running my freshman year of high school, but he wouldn’t let me. He was really persistent, I think he saw a lot of talent in me that I didn’t see in myself early on and he really encouraged me.
Q: How do you enjoy running for Coach Lisa Ebel?
A: I like it a lot, she’s awesome. She makes running a lot more fun and she’s very competitive which is awesome too and she makes games for us and also just takes a lot of time to get to know us individually and knows our running strengths. We all have individualized running programs and I really like that too because all of us have different strengths and we all bring different things to the team.
To view the video interview of this athlete spotlight along with other video interviews please visit sxucougars.com and click on the Cougar Close-Ups link.
Greg Pilafas
Deputy Editor in Chief