Big meet often leads to big pressure. The answer is usually an experienced veteran who has steadily progressed through these opportunities and moments. However, Amanda Mergaert and usual have not been in the same sentence (or stratosphere for that matter) lately. Like a lot of young runners she has big expectations and dreams. She works hard physically and mentally to fulfill them. She has also taken on the wisdom of an older teammate who has "been there and done it before". Fortunately, that has been the equation for a major breakthrough this fall.
Amanda was 57th at the regional meet a year ago as a freshman. This year she was ninth and qualified for todays NCAA Championships. After celebrating that accomplishment for about 20 minutes she wasn't happy just getting to her first NCAA meet. She had more big goals to fulfill and achieve. I'd love to tell you she achieved them all. If it wasn't for two lousy seconds I would.
She finished 45th (out of 255) at her first NCAA cross country championship meet. The top 40 are named to the all America team and Amanda's time of 20:56 on a very windy day (25-30mph) came up a couple of seconds shy of that big goal. However, I can tell you that she ran an all American race. She had an outstanding race plan as was where she wanted to be at every checkpoint. She got out well at the start, used other runners to break the wind, used the long straightaways to build momentum, and finished strong. Only a sophomore, she ran the race of a much more experienced championship runner. That growth has come through trial and error, becoming a student of her sport, and listening intently to a great senior leader.
We will enjoy this one a little longer (30 minutes:) and then it's on to track where Amanda and her teammates have more unfulfilled goals and a few more dates with championship destiny.
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