It is widely accepted that running in circles never gets you anywhere. While this old adage holds true for most, the elliptical deeds of Jennifer McPherson stand in stark defiance of traditional logic.After five years of dominating the oval and cross-country circuits, Mississippi State’s standout distance runner feels she still has something to prove.
Having earned an NCAA regional qualifying mark for the second straight year, McPherson hopes to repeat last year’s feat and make it to the national championships.
To do so, she has to finish in the top eight in regionals, which she believes to be well within her grasp.
“Well, I made it last year,” McPherson said. “So I’m hoping I’ll be able to do it again.”
To make it, McPherson said she needs to come close to her season-best time of 4 minutes, 27.15 seconds in the 1500-meter run that qualified her for regionals.
“The competition in the SEC is very tough,” McPherson said. “But if I do match that time, then for sure it should be enough.”
McPherson, who also competed in the NCAA Cross Country National Championships last year and is a veteran of the distance medley relay team that won the 2003 SEC Championship, will draw upon her big-meet experience to see her through.
“We have some of the toughest competition in the SEC,” she said. “We compete with each other all year, so we’re well-prepared by the time we get to regionals.”
Despite the increase in competition, McPherson plans to stick with her tried-and-true training regimens that have carried her to where she is.
“Our coach is pretty consistent,” McPherson said. “When he finds something that works, he sticks with it.”
McPherson is only the third female to compete in the NCAA championships for Misissippi State, and just the second MSU woman to compete in all three national competitions: cross- country, outdoor and indoor track.
Even so, she credits her coach and teammates with her success so far.
“Good coaching and lots of support from my teammates is what’s got me here,” said McPherson. “I can definitely attribute all my success to my teammates.
“We have a very tight clique of distance runners who are always there for each other and pushing and motivating. Even if some are not competing, they will be there to cheer the rest of us on.”
Should she prevail in the NCAA regional competition, McPherson is confident her added experience and preparation this year will carry her further than her achievements of last year.
Suffering from an Achilles injury that forced her to change her training routine, she finished 22nd in the preliminaries.
“I feel like I’m a lot better prepared this year,” she said.
McPherson says that there is a certain sentimental value to her final season, but remaining in Starkville next year will lesson the impact of not competing.
“This is my last hooray,” she said. “I’ll probably still train with them next year, just not in an MSU shirt.”
Regionals will be held during the weekend of May 25 to 26, while the national championships will be held June 6 through June 9 in Sacramento, Calif.
Should McPherson make it to the Golden State, she will prove once and for all that running in circles can, indeed, get you somewhere.