Meagan Rogers
Multi-Events - Women's Track & Field

What events make up the heptathlon and pentathlon? How do the points system work?
The pentathlon consists of 60-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, and the 800-meters. The points system is still confusing to me. Basically, it is derived from some standard and each time/distance is assigned points. So any time/distance you can think of has an assigned point value. The point value for each event correlates to how well you did. So that the 'success' of an 800-point long jump is the same as that of an 800-point hurdles race, and so on. The heptathlon works the same as the pentathlon, except you are outdoors and the events also include the javelin and the 200-meters. The heptathlon competition is also split-up into two days.

How has your transition from running the hurdles to now competing in multi-events gone?
It's starting to come together. I had about four new events to learn, so it's been a process. At first, it was frustrating to see my hurdle times suffer – because you just can't put the time in that people who only have one event can. You don't have the time to specialize. Once you get into the right mindset, you can really work on improving your weaknesses and making your strengths even stronger. At least now if I have a bad hurdle race, I have other events left to make up for it.

Do you have a different mindset when running during the indoor season as opposed to the outdoor season?
Not really, although we use the indoor season as a preparation season for outdoors. The outdoor Mid-American Conference meet is more prestigious, and is really what we are building towards all year. As a heptathlete, once I get outside, I am competing in a two-day event instead of only a one-day event.

What type of preparation do you have on the day of a meet?
I try to keep my meet day preparation the same as my practice preparation, so that I can get the same results. Obviously, that's hard to do when you get excited or nervous. I just try to stay as hydrated as possible, and make sure that I have a lot of time to get warm and loose. At meets when I am competing in a pentathlon, it’s more about just staying warm all day, and finding opportune times to eat.

Walk us through an average week of practice.
Our practices for the multi-events are very structured since we have so many things to work on. Mondays consist of shot put, long jump and a hard, fast, running workout. On Tuesdays, we focus on the high jump and hurdles, as well as some longer running. On Wednesdays, we usually have one run at race pace and do some pure speed work. We also work on the shot put and long jump again. Thursdays involve more cardiovascular work and include the high jump and hurdles again. Depending on the time of year, we back off on Fridays so that we can compete hard on Saturday. We also lift 3-to-4 times a week, again depending on where we are in our competitive season.

What members of the team do you practice with? What coaches do you work with the most?
The male decathletes and the female heptathletes all train together. We are our own multi-unit, and we train for all of the events together. Coach Garnham Jr. plans and oversees all of our workouts. Coach Barry is our event coach for hurdling and high jumping – but all of the coaches are helpful if they see something that needs to be fixed.

What are your goals – to beat the opposition, your best time, or school records?
Definitely to beat my own best times. If they happen to be school records, or faster than the competition – great. I'm happy to win and score points for the team, but the best feeling is to know you have run faster (jumped higher or thrown farther) than you ever have before.

How did you wind up at UB after growing up in British Columbia?
It just seemed to work out. I got some general information on the school sent to me, including an athletic questionnaire that I filled out. I had already decided on a school close to home for my freshman year, but after my indoor season I was still talking with one of the coaches at UB. After some changes in my program, I felt that it was time to leave and that I really wanted to try out Division I track and field. UB provided a good opportunity for me to do that.

Talk about your experience at the Canadian Juvenile Nationals.
Being a part of the British Columbia team at the Canadian Juvenile Nationals was a great experience for me. Competing at that level in high school was both humbling and extremely exciting. Traveling as a team with other qualifiers from the province to run against the other top track athletes in the country was unbelievable. I got to run on a relay team – and share a win – with three girls that I was usually competing against. I also saw some kids with insane amounts of talent, which made me want to work that much harder.

You once met Donovan Bailey. Discuss what that meant to you and how much you look up to him.
Meeting Donovan Bailey was great. At the time he was the fastest man in the world, and I was just in awe. He did great things for the sport of track and field in Canada. I respect him a lot for working so hard to come back after such a harsh injury (ruptured Achilles tendon). He really is a warrior, and set a great example for young track and field athletes.

-The ’10 Questions with…’ feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.

02/06/2002