Post by Stealth on Aug 19, 2009 8:05:31 GMT -5
For Shorter, It’s Good To Be Mudy
www.romenewswire.com/index.php/2009/08/17/for-shorter-its-good-to-be-mudy/
At 5-foot-4, Justyna Mudy’s petite size masks just how big of an impact she makes when running.
One look at what she accomplished in her first year at Shorter College – Mudy was active in all three seasons in 2008-09 – provides plenty of evidence as to the red-shirt sophomore’s presence on the NAIA national scene.
Last fall, after winning every regular season race she entered, Mudy ran to a solid third place finish in the NAIA National Cross County Championships, earning her All-American status.
Last winter, the runner from Poland added another All-American plaque to her collection, taking second in the 3,000-meter race at the NAIA National Indoor Track Championships.
To wrap up one of the finest performances by a Shorter athlete in a single year, Mudy became the College’s first female individual national champion when she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title at the NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May.
With all of that in mind, however, Mudy believes that even better things are ahead and she wants to make sure the success is shared.
“Because I won a national championship, I think some people feel I should win in cross country this year,” Mudy, a Sports Management major at Shorter, said about the high expectations that result from her past success. “I just want to go out and do my best, but you never know what will happen. Yes, I was happy to get to go to the nationals, but I’d like for all the girls on the team to go.
“I want the whole team to go.”
The odds of that happening – the Lady Hawks fell just two scant points shy of qualifying as a team – are very good this fall. As far as head coach Jay Stephenson can see, Mudy sets an example of how to best prepare to reach that goal and is following the same path she set out on in 2008.
“There were a lot of incentives already there, workout wise,” Stephenson said. “She was in shape to have a good year.”
Having transferred to Shorter from Kennesaw State University, where she did not compete on the collegiate level for more than a year, Mudy cruised to win after win each week, leading up to a victory at the Southern States Athletic Conference cross country championships and her third place showing at the nationals.
“When I walked out to the start and saw more than 300 girls, I wondered what I was doing there,” said Mudy about her experience at the national cross country meet. “I just told Coach I’d do my best.”
That she did.
The trend continued last March when she joined Shorter’s indoor team with the runner-up finish at the national meet, and again this past spring when she moved to the outside oval to pick up her national champion steeplechase crown and claim the meet’s Most Outstanding Women’s Performer Award.
Like all pre-race strategy meetings between athlete and coach, the one between Mudy and Stephenson prior to the steeplechase final was intended to ensure that Mudy waited until the final two laps to make a move and surprise the defending champion.
Instead, Mudy’s pure faith in her God-given ability to run took over.
“Right before the race, when we were going over the plans, Justyna said to me`Whatever God wants, it’ll happen,’” said Stephenson.
With two laps to go, the magic began to materialize as Mudy broke away despite her own fears – she wound up smashing the NAIA national record in the event by over six seconds with the win.
“When we had two laps left I thought that there was no way I could go faster,” Mudy said.
With the new season around the corner – the schedule opens Sept. 19 with the Shorter College Dual Meet in Abingdon, Va. – Mudy and her teammates are following the same routine to go a step further.
Every member of the men and women’s team gathered in late July to be a part of the Altitude Project, a Christian distance running camp for college students in the 7,000-foot high Sierras in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and are in full stride in daily preseason practices in Rome.
Mudy is not dwelling on her most recent success.
“Of course I want to be better than last year,” she said. “I’ll still practice hard and do more to get better.”
“The biggest thing she does right is being consistent and paying attention to the small details like drills that helps your foot placement, icing down after you run and stretching,” said Stephenson.
“The end result is the sum of all the little parts and she does all the little parts well.”
www.romenewswire.com/index.php/2009/08/17/for-shorter-its-good-to-be-mudy/
At 5-foot-4, Justyna Mudy’s petite size masks just how big of an impact she makes when running.
One look at what she accomplished in her first year at Shorter College – Mudy was active in all three seasons in 2008-09 – provides plenty of evidence as to the red-shirt sophomore’s presence on the NAIA national scene.
Last fall, after winning every regular season race she entered, Mudy ran to a solid third place finish in the NAIA National Cross County Championships, earning her All-American status.
Last winter, the runner from Poland added another All-American plaque to her collection, taking second in the 3,000-meter race at the NAIA National Indoor Track Championships.
To wrap up one of the finest performances by a Shorter athlete in a single year, Mudy became the College’s first female individual national champion when she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title at the NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May.
With all of that in mind, however, Mudy believes that even better things are ahead and she wants to make sure the success is shared.
“Because I won a national championship, I think some people feel I should win in cross country this year,” Mudy, a Sports Management major at Shorter, said about the high expectations that result from her past success. “I just want to go out and do my best, but you never know what will happen. Yes, I was happy to get to go to the nationals, but I’d like for all the girls on the team to go.
“I want the whole team to go.”
The odds of that happening – the Lady Hawks fell just two scant points shy of qualifying as a team – are very good this fall. As far as head coach Jay Stephenson can see, Mudy sets an example of how to best prepare to reach that goal and is following the same path she set out on in 2008.
“There were a lot of incentives already there, workout wise,” Stephenson said. “She was in shape to have a good year.”
Having transferred to Shorter from Kennesaw State University, where she did not compete on the collegiate level for more than a year, Mudy cruised to win after win each week, leading up to a victory at the Southern States Athletic Conference cross country championships and her third place showing at the nationals.
“When I walked out to the start and saw more than 300 girls, I wondered what I was doing there,” said Mudy about her experience at the national cross country meet. “I just told Coach I’d do my best.”
That she did.
The trend continued last March when she joined Shorter’s indoor team with the runner-up finish at the national meet, and again this past spring when she moved to the outside oval to pick up her national champion steeplechase crown and claim the meet’s Most Outstanding Women’s Performer Award.
Like all pre-race strategy meetings between athlete and coach, the one between Mudy and Stephenson prior to the steeplechase final was intended to ensure that Mudy waited until the final two laps to make a move and surprise the defending champion.
Instead, Mudy’s pure faith in her God-given ability to run took over.
“Right before the race, when we were going over the plans, Justyna said to me`Whatever God wants, it’ll happen,’” said Stephenson.
With two laps to go, the magic began to materialize as Mudy broke away despite her own fears – she wound up smashing the NAIA national record in the event by over six seconds with the win.
“When we had two laps left I thought that there was no way I could go faster,” Mudy said.
With the new season around the corner – the schedule opens Sept. 19 with the Shorter College Dual Meet in Abingdon, Va. – Mudy and her teammates are following the same routine to go a step further.
Every member of the men and women’s team gathered in late July to be a part of the Altitude Project, a Christian distance running camp for college students in the 7,000-foot high Sierras in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and are in full stride in daily preseason practices in Rome.
Mudy is not dwelling on her most recent success.
“Of course I want to be better than last year,” she said. “I’ll still practice hard and do more to get better.”
“The biggest thing she does right is being consistent and paying attention to the small details like drills that helps your foot placement, icing down after you run and stretching,” said Stephenson.
“The end result is the sum of all the little parts and she does all the little parts well.”