TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

In terms of racing at home, I think the biggest difference is having people there cheering for you. Last year we had a great turnout with the Athletes For Athletes (AFA) event and I think that really helped us. It’s definitely a good feeling to have people out there.

Men’s cross-country competes in distances of both 8K and 10K. Is there a difference in your strategy when competing in the different distances?

I wouldn’t say so because by the time the 10K’s come around it’s the championship, you’re in the best shape of your life. It’s just an extra couple of minutes to run hard.

At the end of last season, you earned a spot on the Academic All-Mac squad. How hard is it to balance school while being a member of the only athletic team that doesn’t have a true off- season?

It’s tough, I just try and get a routine going. I try to get things done early academically and try to avoid the temptation of playing games and watching movies on the bus.

In general, cross-country is assumed to be more of an individual sport. Considering the fact that there is both individual scoring and team scoring, is there any team strategy involved in the race?

Yeah, we try and run together a lot of the time. It just helps to see people you’re familiar with, that you know you have trained with. To see them next to you in a race or to see them a little bit ahead, you know you have to pick it up a little bit. It definitely helps to see familiar faces out there.

Last year, you were named team’s Most Improved Runner. What do you think you did to spark an improvement and what goals do you have, with relation to this season?

In terms of goals this season, I would like to improve again, I don’t know if I’m eligible to be most improved again. To improve, I think I started paying attention to my body more, I learned a lot over the past four years. I changed a lot of other things rather than just training. I improved diet and sleep habits. I just became an all around fitter person.

As your season progresses towards the MAC championships, how does your training change?

It changes a lot. Right now, we’re trying to build on our summer training. We trained all summer to build a base, we’re starting to build aerobic abilities and towards MAC championship time, we can start to lie off and let the body recover and reap the benefits of all the training we’ve done for the past few months.

In high school, you played volleyball and you were a member of the swim team. What made you decide to pursue running at the college level?

I was a lot better at running than either of those two sports. I had fun running because I was having success.

In your UB bio, you list “human-powered vehicles” as a hobby. Can you describe this concept a bit more in depth?

It’s something I have been involved in with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a club on campus. We built a modified bicycle and they have all different competitions, you can do single-rider, multi-rider. We build them out of various materials throughout the school year and then go off to compete, last year the competitions were in Florida and California.

You have Ben Franklin listed as a famous family member. Is that true? If so, how are the two of you related?

It is true, we’re related through a 17th great uncle or something. My dad is big into genealogy, he could probably tell you.

What has been your favorite moment as a UB student-athlete?

When we ran at regional's last year, it was our last big race as a cross-country team and we set the mark for this year. We were only losing one guy from our team last year and we really came together and we overcame some problems that we had earlier in the year. When it all came together, it worked out really well.

“The 10 Questions With…” feature is compiled by Jackie O’Brien