Athlete in the Spotlight: Jessica McCarthy

I’ve never actually done an interview before, but I figured this might be a nice chance to write in a reporter-like style, especially on something I like. So I asked my friend Jessica McCarthy, who is an ever-growing track fan/athlete to answer some questions on her first collegiate season at the University of Maine, a Division I school.

As a preamble to the interview, Jess first started track her sophomore year of high school, and was really good, becoming a state qualifier in multiple events, and a school record holder in some of those events. With three years of indoor and two years of outdoor track seasons, she has really grown into an athlete who wants to improve her performance, and loves the competition. That’s why her talents have brought her to the University of Maine to compete.

Jess has decided generously answer many questions about her season, and her fast growth and transition from high school to college competition. I first asked her in general how her season has gone, and she responded, “Well, my preseason was tough, more intense running and training and lifting, I was always tired and sore”. That sentence alone I believe goes through many new college runners. It’s definitely hard to do the offseason workouts, and then get into the preseason workout and feel like absolute crap. Jess mentions that her indoor and outdoor seasons had its ups and downs. “Indoor was below average, I almost wish I red shirted or something. To me it was a waste of a season. I was running races I never had before, and practices were hard and demanding, I didn’t take the time to fix things, I was more or less just going through the motion of what me coach was asking me to do. As far as outdoor went I was a completely different person, I was PR’ing or coming close to PRs every race and I was placing top 5 every meet scoring points, anchoring relays and I was even going to Penn Relays until the stress fracture ended the season for me”.

It’s definitely hard to have such a crucial injury in the middle of the season, especially before one of the biggest collegiate meets of the outdoor season. It’s definitely a lesson to learn as an athlete to make sure their body is taken care of so that injuries don’t happen in the middle of the season.

There are a lot of lessons that Jess has learned through her first year, as she mentioned to me that patience is crucial in improving her athletic performance. She realizes that there are people better than her and that that can’t get her down. She can’t “bitch” about it, and move on from her mistakes or anger. That is something I absolutely agree with, and that is an important step to take when moving on to her sophomore year.

I also asked Jess about her coaches. She mentioned that there is a big difference between her high school coaches and her college coaches in terms of knowledge and intensity of workouts. She mentions one of her coaches, Dave Cusano, a fellow “track nerd,” “has completely changed my running for the better. I learned proper technique, how to lift and get strong, how to eat right, how to be a better athlete and person”. Then to describe her workouts compared to high school, it is “more intense times one million”. Jess describes the types of lifting and running workouts that involve the user of tires or cinder blocks in order to improve strength and speed. Sounds kind of old fashioned, but it probably works.

My most important question for Jess was the commitment level to the sport in college. For the people who knew me, I was committed to the sport day in and day out to improve and perform at my best. For Jess, her answer was definitely no surprise to me. She said that “Commitment is vital to be a successful sprinter in my school. We carry ourselves at a higher level than anyone else because we are at that level. You need to be 100% into this or else it’s a waste of your time… I knew I was committed before, but seeing how dedication and hard work pays off makes me even more committed and excited to see how everything turns out”.

It’s definitely a good feeling to hear that a friend of mine who has grown to become such a talented athlete learn so much about the sport and gain a respect equal to mine. It’s truly inspiring. This sport is built mainly on the social interactions people make with each other in order to learn, improve, and compete, and I’m glad to have Jess be one of my friends. On that note, Jess will close with her closing statement: “I have a year under my belt with all of the experience and I’m just anticipating getting going again, because I know what it takes now and I’m ready for it and I know I can only do better”.