Symmonds a star on the rise
Posted Tuesday, 23 January, 2007
Contact:
Jill Geer
Director of Communications
USA Track & Field
317-713-4663
USATF on Tuesday hosted a national media teleconference with Nick Symmonds, the seven-time NCAA Division III champion who will compete in the 800 meters this Saturday, January 27, at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games.
In his first career indoor race on January 13 in Seattle, Symmonds posted a time of 3:56.72 for the mile. He first proved his mettle on the elite level when he finished runner-up in the 800 meters at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis. His time of 1:45.83 was a personal best for the Division III national record holder.
He was a seven-time NCAA Division III outdoor track champion, winning every NCAA championship race in which he competed. He won both the 800 and 1,500 each year of his college career except his sophomore season, when injury limited him to only the 800.
A 2006 graduate of Willamette University in Oregon, where he studied biochemistry, Symmonds is a native of Boise, Idaho, where he attended Bishop Kelly High School. He now competes for the Oregon Track Club, where he is coached by the legendary Frank Gagliano.
Below are excerpts from Tuesday's call:
Q: How do you feel coming into this weekend?
A: I am extremely excited. I'm real strong from the base we've been doing. The 3:56 was a big surprise. I thought I could get under 4, but to run 3:56 was a surprise. I'm really excited about the 8. I haven't run on a banked, 200-meter track before. The field in Boston is great, and the meet record could go. I think the meet record is 1:47.9, so I'm excited to get out there and run.
Q: Obviously, you ran the 800 and 1,500 a lot in Division III . Which race will you focus on now?
A At this point, we're so far out from the [2008] Olympic Trials, it's just about getting in shape. I have huge love and respect for both races. They both represent individual challenges. It's nice to mix it up. Hopefully this summer I'll run a couple of fast times.
Q: Did you really see that kind of performance happening in Indy, where you ran 1:45 and placed second at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships?
A: No, actually. That's why I was so surprised. I'm a pretty good racer, pretty good tactically. My main goal going in was to make the final. Once I got in there, I thought if I could race my PR, 1:47, I could beat a few people. To run 1:45, I had no idea I had that in me. I held back on the first lap. I held back in the semis. I don't have quite as much natural speed as some of the other guys. I need to go out slower and close hard.
Q: Did you run indoor track in college?
A: No. Willamette doesn't run an indoor season, and up until two weeks ago I had never run an indoor race.
Q: What are you doing to get ready for tight races?
A: At the Oregon Track Club, we've got a lot of guys. We've been doing work to get my speed up, to make moves on those tight turns. I think I have a short, powerful stride that will help me out indoors.
Q: When you came off the track in Indy at the USA Outdoors you were wearing your high school singlet. How did you get from there to a sponsorship?
A: At Indy I was wearing my high school singlet because my coach had been writing a lot of my workouts for me. At Outdoors, I met up with a couple of agents and made a couple of calls. [Former college coach and 2000 Olympic assistant coach] Kelly Sullivan put me in touch with Chris Layne at Total Sports. We really hit it off. I liked what he was doing in Tennessee ... he placed some calls to the shoe companies and he secured me a contract with Nike.
Q: Tell us more about your training group.
A: We're in Eugene and we are the Nike Oregon Track Club, sponsored by Nike. Frank Gagliano is the coach. We've got a great group of guys from 400 guys through 5k. At Willamette, toward the end, I had to do workouts on my own, which was very physically and mentally taxing. Out here I can jump in with a group of guys.
Q: What is your background in sports?
A: My family was never really involved in track and field. Dad played ice hockey and my mom ran. In high school I played ice hockey and soccer for the most part. My freshman year I ran cross country because I was small - only 5-feet tall, so I was too short for soccer. I got a stress fracture in the spring doing both sports, so I had to choose one sport - running or soccer. I stayed with running and played ice hockey in the winter.
Q: How tall are you now, and when did you start growing?
A: I'm 5-10. The biggest growth was sophomore to junior year.
Q: What are your plans this indoor season?
A: I think I'll run the mile at the Tyson Invitational, and we might run a DMR. I'll also run the USAs [Indoor Championships]. I'm not sure which race I'll be doing there, though.
Q: How is training different now?
A: It's a lot more intense. I ran 60 miles per week in college, and I'm doing about 70 now. It's the little things that are more emphasized. I lift more, do core strengthening and stretching.
Q: With the 1:45 and 3:56 indoors, where does that take you for possible personal bests outdoors this year?
A: I don't know. Hopefully things will go well and I get into some good races. I'd like to see myself with Khadevis Robinson, maybe running a 1:43. Don't know if I'm ready for that yet, but I'd like to be up there with him at USAs. I'd like to be down in the mid-3:30s in the 1,500.
Q: Who are some of the runners that you looked up to in high school and college?
A: I remember looking up to Ryan Bak [of Trinity College] and Matt Groose [of Wisconsin-Oshkosh] as Division III guys. I remember following them from my freshman year and wanting to race them. After that it was Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, Ryan Hall. I wanted to know what they were doing and wanted to do the same thing. Oregon and Nike have made it possible for me to pursue that dream.
Q: Before your performance in Indy, did you want a pro career in track?
A: I knew I wanted to keep running but wasn't sure how I would be able to make it happen. It's been a dream of mine for a long time, so I wasn't ready to give up on it. Running 1:45 made it a lot easier, for sure.
Q: How did you start working with Frank Gagliano?
A: I met him at the Stanford Invite when I ran there last year. When I heard they were coming up to Eugene, I got hooked up with him. He's got to be the best distance-mid distance coach in the country.
Q: You sound confident and experienced - you don't sound intimidated to be racing against top competition.
A: What it comes down to is that it's a great experience for me because I come to races so hungry. I believe I can run with these guys and know I can run with them. It's a matter of proving to myself and others that I can do it, and being ready to do that.
Q: What are your long-term goals?
A: We talk a lot about making teams out here. I want to make an Olympic Team and a couple of world teams. That's what we focus on is making U.S. teams.
Q: How long do you want to stay in the sport?
A: As long as I can.
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