While most students find a heater to cuddle with during the winter temperatures, Mississippi State distance runners senior Robert Scribner and freshmen Renee Masterson are out preparing for the 2009 track seasons.
Masterson said running is more than a sport to the State distance group, it is an entire lifestyle. The distance athletes mold their lives on a routine for success on the track and in the classroom.
Scribner and Masterson received academic honors in cross country and ran personal bests in 2008. Scribner became one of only two men at MSU to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Head track and field coach Al Schmidt said Masterson has potential to become one of the best ever at MSU.
“Masterson has had times faster than Tiffany McWilliams, former national champion in the 1,500 meters,” Schmidt said.
Scribner had a dream season in cross country in 2008. He said he wants to turn his successes in cross country into success on the track.
“At the beginning of the year, I can easily run faster than ever before,” Scribner said. “I am ready to finally make an impact on the track team.”
Masterson came into the fall as a freshman and finished first for MSU in each competition. She said she surprised even herself by doing that. The freshman set the bar high for her 2009 indoor season.
“I feel as though I could potentially set a personal record in my first indoor meet,” Masterson said.
The successes of a runner are won not just on the day of the meet, but in the off-season conditioning.
With the dedicated running regiments the athletes have, the success is earned by various daily training. Scribner said a runner trains in all aspects: endurance, speed and form.
“The training is a lot more complex than people would think,” Scribner said. “It is not just going out and running easy every day.”
Whether he or she runs six miles twice a day relaxed or sprints individual miles, the two find the right balance for academic honors.
“Running forces you to have a structure in your life,” Scribner said. “Once you are used to it, it is not too difficult to keep that structure and focus on academics. When you get an assignment, it has to be done because you have other obligations as well.”
Masterson said running has taught her discipline that gives her self-control to work hard in both aspects of being a student and an athlete.
“You are a student-athlete and being a student comes first,” she said. “You have to balance everything.”
The women’s track and field team opens the 2009 indoor season at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. today. The two-day invitational brings schools from across the Mideast to the Randal Tyson Center.
MSU’s men’s track team does not participate in indoor season. The men and women begin the outdoor season in March.
The Razorback Invitational begins today with pentathlon at 11:30 a.m., running events begin at 6:45 p.m. and field events begin at 4 p.m. On Saturday, running events begin at 10 a.m. and field events at 1 p.m.
Schmidt said he anticipates success for the team’s veteran multi-event athletes. The three stalwart veterans of the sprint and jump group are senior Marrissa Harris, junior Wendy Copeland and junior LaQuinta Aaron.
“[Harris, Copeland and Aaron] are where they need to be,” Schmidt said. “If you had to put a franchise tag on anyone, then that would be Harris,” he said.
Harris and Copeland enter the meet as overall best personal records in 60 meter hurdles and long jump, respectively.
The indoor season continues with travel into New Mexico and Kentucky. The New Mexico Combined Event will take place Jan. 30 in Albuquerque. The team then travels to Lexington, Ky. Feb. 7 for the Kentucky Invitational.
The Bulldogs return to Fayetteville Feb. 14 for the 10th annual Tyson Invitational. Tickets are already being sold, and ESPN2 will nationally televise the world-class event. MSU athletes have the chance to perform against the best athletes in the world at the invitational.
The indoor season ends with the two biggest meets of the year. The SEC championship is on Feb. 27-28 and returns the team back to Lexington, Ky. Two weeks later March 13-14 the Women’s Indoor National Championship will take place in College Station, Texas.