Running for Nebraska: Water girls

September 26, 2010

Water girls

Today the women volunteered at the Omaha Marathon. We were at mile 21 and had a water station where we handed out water, gatorade, and cheered for all of the marathoners. It was really a neat experience to help out our fellow running community and get to cheer them on as they reached what is said to be the hardest part of the marathon. There were a lot of runners in the 50 States club, each had run or was in the process of running 50 marathons in 50 states. We also met a woman who had run 109 marathons from 2004-2010, and encountered two barefoot marathoners. It was a great day and now it's time for bed as the week starts tomorrow in preparation for Wisconsin on Saturday!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Where do you find the time? Thats wonderful that you are giving back to the community. Keep up the great work Sam.; September 27, 2010 at 5:57 PM
SAM I AM said...: Each sports team at NU is required to do a minimum of 2 service projects, but we did it on a Sunday morning so most of us were free. It was nice to give back to the community who gives so much to UNL; September 27, 2010 at 7:35 PM

Post a Comment

Why Nebraska?

When I began the college search I knew that I wanted to continue running at the NCAA Division 1 level. I desired a school rich in pride for its sports with good academics as well. I found this in Lincoln, NE. College sports are a very big deal in the state of Nebraska and it shows in the school's facilities and coaching staff. I picked Nebraska because of all it had to offer me as a student athlete and because of the at-home feeling I got on my visit and with the team. Quite a few of my teammates have become a lot faster since their high school PR's and this was a good indicator to me that I could trust in the training tendencies of my long time Nebraska Cross Country coach Jay Dirksen. A graduate of South Dakota State in '68, Jay was an All American steeplechaser and has coached at Nebraska for 28 years producing a total of 3 NCAA National Champions, 1 U.S Olympic Trials Champion, 20 Cross Country NCAA All Americans, 39 NCAA Track and Field All Americans, 5 Big XII Cross Country Team Titles, 6 NCAA Regional Titles and 22 NCAA Cross Country Teams.

Before Nebraska

I ran four years of Cross Country and Track for Great Oak High School under coaches Doug Soles and Daniel Noble. I was a four year letter winner in both sports and went to Nike Cross Nationals all four years. Some notable awards include #1 Freshman in Riverside County in 2006 and Freshman of the Year, as well as the #3 Sophomore in 2007, winner of the Long Beach Invitational, the Mt. SAC D1 sophomore girls champion and Sophomore of the Year. My Junior and Senior seasons I was a team captain and the Most Improved athlete on the track team, Junior and Senior of the Year as well as 1st Team All-League in the SWL, a scholar athlete, a member of the 2008 Riverside County Academic Team winner (gohs xc), part of the CIF Southern Section team champion in 2009, and the tie breaker of Great Oak's 2009 Runner Up accolades at the California State Meet. In track I was the Inland Empire 1600m Champ, held senior records in the 1600m (5:02.54), 3200m (11:09.10), and 3 miles (17:19, xc); and was a California High School Heisman Finalist in 2010.