TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

You started your indoor season by winning the 200-meter dash at the Black Squirrel Open at Kent State. After having not competed collegiately for a year and a half, what was it like to go out there and win an event?
It was awesome. I’ve been training for a year and a half to get back to it, so it didn’t even matter about winning. It was just about being able to step back out on their on the track and being able to compete again. That was definitely the most fun.

Last year, Faith Thompson and Jenny Koeppel have had great seasons to cap off their collegiate careers with Thompson winning the Hammer Throw at the MAC Championships and Koeppel winning the MAC cross country meet. How much fun was it to watch those two athletes?
Not just last year, over the four years that I’ve been here, watching the two of them compete with how hard they work and as nice people as they are, it was absolutely incredible. They are two of the most modest, down-to-earth people that I have ever met in my entire life. They are, potentially, world class athletes if they choose to be. They are very much about their teammates. They deserve all they got last year.

You redshirted during the 2005 season due to an injury. How tough was it to have to sit out and watch as your teammates competed at meets?
It was really tough. For me, it’s more than running, it’s about the team. I was at practice every day, from three days after I had my surgery, I was there everyday at practice. It was four months before I started training again, but I made sure I was there to help them as best I could from a motivational and inspirational standpoint. I want to the team to do well, and if I do well, great, but it’s about the team first.

This year, you are competing in two different sprinting events as well as the 1,600-meter relay. What are some of the differences in styles with which you approach a 200-meter dash and a relay race?
The dash is about just going all out the entire race. The relay is about strategy. I am running the anchor now. It’s about making sure I do what I can to win for the team. It’s not about how fast I go, it’s about winning the race. That’s the difference. It’s about running the best race for the situation we’re in.

Running is a sport where even Olympic champions don’t expect to win every time they race. Do you condition yourself to try and run your race at a meet rather than trying to stay with a competitor?
I set goals for every meet. I worry less about winning then I do about time and how I feel when I run. It’s a long season. There’s no way you’re going to win every one. It’s just about doing the best you can in each individual circumstance and taking something from each individual race that you run.

Another aspect of track and field is the downtime at a meet, especially as a member of the 1,600-meter relay team, which is typically the last event at a meet. What do you do with your time in between events?
Depending on the meet, there usually isn’t a whole lot of down time. You get done with the race, like this week, cool down, sit around for five minutes, then warm up for another 45, cool down for 20 minutes, then warm up for another 45, run a race, cool down and then at that point, you’re pretty warm and you just want to get done with the 4x400. There’s not a lot of downtime. At the bigger meets, there will be and at that point, you have really pace what you do and make sure that your going through the routine that you normally would for every race.

Coming from nearby Getzville and Williamsville North High School, what made UB and coach Perry Jenkins’ squad the right fit for you four years ago?
I think it was more than just track. It was athletics, but it was also academic. I knew that if I came here, I would have a chance to compete right away and that’s not something that I was offered at other schools. It was develop for two or three years, do what we say, and than maybe you’ll get your chance. Coach P gave me the opportunity to step in and be a part of the team right away. I had an academic scholarship and I know I wanted to do business and psychology and those programs are strong here. Plus, my parents liked me being close.

As a former football player in high school, what are some lessons from the gridiron that you have been able to translate over onto the track?
Probably the worst one that I could, and that is to play through the pain. I ran with the tear in my knee for five months before I had my surgery, just because I had to do it.

In the past four years, the UB athletic department has made a lot of changes, most recently hiring Turner Gill as head football coach. Being a former high school football player, are you excited for the new hire?
I’m very excited about the new hire. I think it was long needed. I think, right now, there is an influx of completely new attitudes, starting with Warde and filtering down through all the programs. If you take a look, top to bottom, at what every team has done here, we’re all taking really positive, strong steps to improve where we stand in the conference. Hopefully, Turner will help change the mentality further and go from not from such a successful program to one that will start getting some respect.

What has been your favorite moment as a UB athlete?
There’s two of them. My sophomore year, we ran in the slow heat of the 4x400 relay at the MAC Outdoor Championships and we all had the race of our lives. It was Joe Clark, Tim Giagios, Tom Abbey and I. We were ranked seventh going into the meet and we took second, so we got silver. We just missed regional qualifying and ran the fastest time (3:12.66) that UB had in ten years.

The other one was my sophomore year at Penn Relays because that meet is just unbelievable. That is what track is always meant to be in my mind, and as far as I know that’s how it is in Europe. There’s so many people there. The entire city of Philadelphia shuts down for that meet. Students come in busloads. All the public schools and all the private schools in the city shut down and take a field trip to the University of Pennsylvania and they sit in the crowd for that meet. The excitement and what that does for the sport is incredible.

“The 10 Questions With…” feature is compiled by Joe Guistina.