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For the first interview by South Dakota Runner, we will be corresponding
with former Chamberlain High School standout, Kristen Mohror, through facebook chat. Kristen was a member of the 2003 and
2005 CHS team that won the SD Class A State XC Championships. She also placed 4th individually in the State A XC Meet in 2003
and 5th individually in both 2004 and 2005. Kristen is now a journalism major at the University of Oregon where she runs for
the UO Running Club and is coached by former longtime UO coach, Tom Heinonen. In 2007, Kristen placed 4th and helped UO win
the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association team championship. In 2008, she placed 6th and helped UO to a 3rd place
team finish. She recently placed 2nd individually and led Oregon to a 2nd place team finish in the NIRCA Championships.
Jarvis: First of
all, how did you end up at the University of Oregon?
Kristen:
Well, I started out at Black Hills State in Spearfish and ran cross country and track there my freshman year. And I was bio
major. But I realized I didn't like bio. I wanted to do advertising. And BH didn't
have it. They had a Mass Communications major, but it's not the same at all. And I knew Oregon had an amazing journalism school
with a really great Ad program. So I talked to my parents about it, and they said it was okay. So I applied.
Jarvis: Was Oregon
on your radar at all in high school?
Kristen:
No. Definitely not.
I had been there, but not until after I made a commitment to BH.
So that
wasn't good.
I guess I never really thought that I would want to go out of state for school. I knew I wouldn't get
scholarships for out of state schools, so I just did what I could to keep running competitively.
Jarvis: Ok, I can
totally understand that. Are you pleased with how everything turned out? With the process that you went through and ending
up at Oregon?
Kristen:
Things turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I didn't know that Oregon had a running club.
Jarvis: I didn't
either. When your coach e-mailed me and told me about the Oregon Running Club, the NIRCA, and your involvement with them,
I have to admit I was completely unaware of all of this information.
Kristen:
hahaha
I was probably
just as blown away about it all as you were It was really cool though because after I transferred I never thought I'd run competitively again.
Jarvis: That's
great, it sounds like it was really good timing for you.
Kristen:
Haha, yeah it really was
Jarvis: Your coach
was telling me that you were one of the leaders of the running club? What's your involvement with the Oregon Running Club
and the NIRCA besides just being on the team?
Kristen:
I'm a co-coordinator for the club. Tom, Gio and I just finished writing a 17 page grant for NIRCA trying to get more teams
on the west coast to join NIRCA and/or encourage schools west of the Mississippi to form running clubs.
Jarvis: I thought
I saw your name on something like that when I was looking more into the information. That's very cool!
Kristen:
Thank you!
Jarvis: So, your
team and you individually have had a lot of success in the NIRCA the last few years. What factors do you think have contributed
most to that?
Kristen:
Tom I
think he has just about everything to do with it.
Jarvis: That's
what I expected. The other NIRCA teams probably don't have a legendary coach working with them! I know from experience that
he's very enthusiastic about all of it too, from his e-mail to me.
Kristen:
Haha yes. Enthusiastic is a good word.
I think a
lot of it is the amount of respect all of us have for him.
It's incredible.
He would do anything for us. Well, almost anything. He meets us every day at 3 p.m. M,WRF and on Tuesdays he meets people
at times during the day that work best for them.
Jarvis: Wow, that
sounds like an unbelievable experience for all of you! That is so awesome to see him put so much time and effort into this
after coaching the official University of Oregon team for so many years!
Kristen:
I know, right? He's such a great coach too and is so helpful with everything. He really likes being involved and really
takes the time to get to know each of us, which is really cool.
Jarvis: That definitely
sounds like the mark of a great coach and mentor! I'm done with college eligibility myself and after looking into all this
I got pretty excited about possibly running on a club team when I go to grad school! I saw that if you've run your 4 years
of eligibility at an NCAA school you can still have 2 years of eligibility in the NIRCA. Is that correct?
Kristen:
Yep
Jarvis: Haha, great, well
hopefully this interview lets a lot of people know about this whole organization that is way under the radar right now. Could you tell me a little
bit about what it meant to you to win Nationals as a team in 2007 and get 2nd as an individual this year?
Kristen:
2007 was the first year the ORC went to NIRCA Nationals and we weren't sure what to expect. It was the 2nd annual National
Championships. But we got there and did really well and it was amazing to see teams from other schools like UNC, Penn State,
etc. competing on running clubs. The race itself was really unorganized the first year. And the competition wasn't that great.
It was there, it just wasn't amazing. So winning was cool, but we kind of knew why we won I guess.
The second year we went to the NIRCA Nationals, it was held at Penn State
in State College, PA and it was incredible how different everything was!
It
was very organized, there was so much more competition. We definitely went in there blind. I was just happy the guys raced
first :) And this year, there was even more competition. They had
to split the men's race up at Nationals because there were so many runners.
Jarvis: Haha, so
it sounds like it's really been a completely different experience each year, but things are headed in the right direction?
Kristen:
Yes, definitely. It's gotten better every year. The competition is improving every year.
It was really cool to get second in that race this year. Lauren Philbrook,
the winner, was a great competitor. She took it out pretty hard the first mile and then picked up the last 3k. But taking
second to a 10k NCAA DIII National Champion wasn't too bad.
Jarvis: Yeah, I
would say so!
Kristen:
Haha I
was pretty content.
Jarvis: That's
great! There aren't too many races where it's easy to say that!
Kristen:
Exactly.
Jarvis: So, you
are a senior this year at Oregon? What does the near future hold for you?
Kristen:
Well I'm planning on taking a victory lap and getting a minor in Digital Arts and adding a Communicatios major to my Advertising
major. I'm not in a huge rush to get out of school because the economy is so bad right now.
Jarvis: Ha, that's
pretty wise actually. I just graduated this past spring and it's definitely not easy right now! Are you done w/ eligibility
for the NIRCA?
Kristen:
I have one year of eligibility left. And so does Lauren. So I'm pretty excited for next year... I would love to race her again.
Jarvis: That's
great that it's not quite over for you yet! That should be a very exciting race next year!
Kristen:
Hopefully everyone stays injury free! I think the team is going to do really well next year. We're not losing anyone, so that's
a good sign. We just have to keep working hard.
Jarvis: Yeah, staying injury
free is definitely the key! Do you have any words of wisdom for the South Dakota Runner visitors out there before we end the interview?
Kristen:
Um.... I guess I would say not to sell yourself short. If you want to try something new, do it. You only live once.
Jarvis: Great!
Thanks for your time Kristen!
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