Fall term is my favorite term of the year. Everyone is back on campus, the weather is still decent and the leaves change to beautiful colors, and it is cross country season. I have been running competitively since 7th grade and just for fun since 4th grade. I knew when I began my college search that it was important to me to be able to continue to run cross country, and I wanted to do it on a competitive team. The year before I came to Lawrence (2011) the Men’s Cross Country team won the Midwest Conference Championship. The championship convinced me to come to Lawrence over Knox College who has not performed as well as Lawrence in cross country in recent years. I didn’t meet any of the runners or Coach Jason Fast when I visited because they were away at a track meet, but I did talk to Sam Stevens ’12 and Coach Fast on the phone several times before I made my decision to come to Lawrence.
2013 Men’s CC team at the MWC Championships in Grinnel, IA
Some high school student-athletes do not choose to continue sports in college because they believe the workload and time commitment will be overwhelming. I, however, found that continuing to have practice every day after school as had been my habit for the previous 5 years helped me transition to college and life at Lawrence. Fall sport athletes arrive in mid-August for preseason. I already had the support system of my team and a great group of friends before Welcome Week even rolled around. I quickly became comfortable and fit into the team quickly. Once school started the structure of practice time and meets on the weekends really helped me to learn how to manage my time and stress. I also received the benefits of all the advice from the experienced upperclassmen on the team about how to balance life as a student-athlete at Lawrence.
Kyle Dockery ’15 (left) and Jonah Laursen ’16 run to an all-conference finish at the 2013 MWC championships in Grinnel, IA
The attitude of the Athletic department and the coaches at Lawrence is healthy and focused on the players as STUDENT-athletes. They understand that academics is more important than athletics in the big picture and that we are here to go to school and not to play sports. Part of this great attitude comes from the fact that Lawrence is a small D-3 school that isn’t allowed to give out athletic scholarships. But another part is that the Athletic department recognizes that Lawrentians take their academic work very seriously. While there are about as many athletes as there are conservatory students at Lawrence, the university is more often recognized for its musical prowess than its athletic success. Student-athletes at Lawrence are going to be professionals in something other than sports more than likely and the attitude of the administration reflects that. Nonetheless being a student athlete has enriched my time at Lawrence by helping me to develop important life skills and have unique experiences. I knew that when I came to Lawrence as a freshman I too wanted to help my team win a Conference championship as they did the year before in 2011. This year both the men’s and women’s team are contenders for the Midwest Conference championship on our home course at Reid Golf Course on November 1st at 11am. Go Vikes!
