No. 123 [Runners]

Photo by James Rogers
Photo by James Rogers

“I would say the biggest difference between high school and college running is, in college, everyone wants to be there. You’re doing it because you love the sport. Also, one advice I’d give to high schoolers is, even if you don’t think you can make a team, just try out. D3 running is so much fun; it’s the best decision I’ve made for college. Just being on a team, continuing my athletic career, it’s not much of a time commitment compared to like a D1 program. I can still do what I love and get my degree.”

No. 105, Revisited—4th Visit [Runners]

Photo Courtesy of IWU Parents
Photo Courtesy of IWU Parents

“In high school, we didn’t have a cross-country team, but I really wanted to run cross-country because I loved it in middle school. So my mom wanted to fight for me and give me that chance, so she would take me to meets, and we’d just follow Jordan Dekker’s team around because we knew they’d be there. [My mom] would just be like, ‘My daughter really loves cross-country. Can she run in your race today?’ And they’d let me in, and I’d get to run, and I had so many more opportunities. I got to race at state that year, even though I just randomly entered cross races when my mom found them. She’s not a runner at all—I don’t know if she’s run a day in her life—but she was like, ‘You can do it; we’re going to do this.’ She was like my coach. It was really cool, because she believed in me and fought for me when that could’ve been it.”