Roger Cleaveland, a sports writer for the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American, recently caught up with Bentley University sophomore and NCAA-bound Amy Varsell and talked about her outstanding season. This article ran in the May 27 edition of the paper (www.rep-am.com).

BY ROGER CLEAVELAND REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

As Bentley University first-year track and field head coach Kevin Curtin cleaned out his office file cabinet upon his arrival last summer, something there made him chuckle.

He found a season-ending self-evaluation form many coaches ask athletes to fill out to get them thinking about their performance and ways to improve. As he read it, he couldn't help but laugh at the brashness Burlington's Amy Varsell exhibited in writing down her goals for this track season.

After running a best time of two minutes, 25 seconds in the 800 meters last year as a college freshman, the former Lewis Mills state champion set her goal to run a 2:12 this season.

"That is a huge jump and an impressive amount of confidence to show in yourself," Curtin said. "I started laughing. But you know what? She not only reached it, she exceeded it. She ran 2:11.73 indoors to become an All-American, and I believe she just ran 2:11.98 outdoors at All-New Englands."

Varsell has an opportunity to earn All-America honors for the second time this year today when she competes at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships in Turlock, Calif.

While she has clearly had the last laugh over her bold goal, it didn't come without shedding a few tears of frustration in the process. Last summer, the goal that seemed so realistic and attainable when she wrote it, was slowly slipping further and further from her reach. The harder she pushed herself, the more tired she felt.

She thought going into offseason training that she had finally come to terms with her true niche in running. Her whole life, she had been told that she had the stride of a distance runner rather than a sprinter.

After winning state championships in the 400 her sophomore and senior years at Lewis Mills, however, she felt comfortable with the longest sprint distances. Then she got to college and things changed. Between improved competition and a sluggish year personally, she wasn't pleased. So she went home and committed to training for the longer distance that fit her long stride.

"I don't have really fast turnover like a lot of sprinters," Varsell said. "When I run, I don't look like a sprinter at all. I look like a distance runner. So even though I was running a 400, it was like, 'Is that girl really sprinting?' Like, 'What's going on here?'"

Part of the reason she didn't make the change earlier was she suffered from shin splints. So she got fitted for the proper orthotics and began distance training. It was a huge flop. While she had the desire to run further and faster, her body started slowing down.

"Every day all summer I asked myself, 'Why are you doing this? This is terrible. This is just not working,' " Varsell said. "But my teammates were supporting me. And even though it was so miserable every time I went out, part of me still enjoyed it. I love to run. I just hoped that it would pay off and get easier."

Instead, it got worse. She got back to school and pulled out of her very first cross country race. She could barely jog 400 meters, so she went to the school infirmary and was diagnosed with severe anemia. Not enough oxygen was getting to her muscles, sapping her of energy and not allowing her to perform.

Within weeks of taking iron supplements, she felt significantly better and started training with the faster girls on the team. Within a month, she was at the head of the pack, and by the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, she finished 11th overall and first for Bentley in a personal-best 5K time of 19:05, three and a half minutes quicker her high school times.

More importantly, she hit indoor track season running in full stride. Between her indoor and outdoor seasons, she broke a school record 10 times.

"This year has just been completely crazy," Varsell said. "After all that frustration, I had the best cross country season of my life. Then going into track season, every week I was making these great jumps. I couldn't even believe it was happening. It's been a real pleasant surprise."

While Varsell is seeded 16th out of the 17 girls competing in the 800 meter nationals today, count coach Curtin as one of her converts who wouldn't at all be surprised if she qualifies for Saturday's final and finishes in the top eight to earn All-America status.

"There is only 7/10th of a second between her and the eighth-place qualifier, and Amy is a better racer than she is a time trailer," Curtin said. "She can definitely be an All-American. And if she stays healthy and gets a full cross country season in, there is no question in my mind she will even be a much better half-miler and miler in the future."

(From www.rep-am.com)