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Princeton Running Star Kroshus in Form As Cross Country Aims to Take Heps
By Bill Alden
Blowing into the Jadwin Gym lobby before a cross country practice last week, Emily Kroshus immediately made her presence felt. Still wearing a suit from a job interview earlier that day, the blond senior from Calgary clutched a bag with a typewritten midterm economics exam answer protruding out the top. She proceeded to explain to head coach Peter Farrell in a rapid fire delivery how she was going to do her warm-up on the way to dropping off the exam.
As she rushes to get the most out of her last year at college, Kroshus has already won three races this fall in between interviewing for jobs, handling classes, and completing her senior thesis which is delving into the socio-economic causes of obesity.
In the near term, Kroshus has her sights set on leading the Tigers to the Heptagonal Cross Country Championship this Friday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City, a competition the program hasn't won since 1980.
This proverbial woman who does too much, though, has learned that she has to slow down a bit in order to run her best.
Entering Princeton as a Canadian national junior champion in both the mile and two-mile events, Kroshus encountered a series of roadblocks in her first two years of college as she was slowed by pneumonia, stress fractures, and mono.
Regaining her health last year, Kroshus placed sixth in the Heps cross country meet last fall before putting together an excellent spring season which saw her break the school record in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 34:19.54.
"It was one of those things, it took going through something like that to realize that I had to be patient," said Kroshus reflecting on her early travails.
"In my years of experience here, I realize that at times I have to step back. If I have a week like last week where I only ran three times in eight days, so be it. If I work hard, if I take care of my body, I'll get to where I want to be."
From the day Kroshus walked into Princeton, Farrell has been trying to get his star pupil to marshal her efforts just a bit.
"We had a conversation from the moment she got here, she works harder than anybody I know," recalled Farrell, who is in his 24th year at Princeton and is the only head coach the women's cross country and track programs have ever had.
"She got to be a special athlete in high school off of all that hard work so what am I going to say do less and be less of an athlete. What I told her was that she was going to need to listen to her body. As she got more emotionally mature, she would listen to her body as she went through the cycles a college student has to go through."
While Kroshus may have learned that lesson the hard way, that hasn't dimmed her ardor to help lead the Tiger cross country team to new heights.
"The first year here it was hard, the intensity of the team was really low and that was unfortunate," said Kroshus, whose exploits at the head of a talented Tiger pack that includes Cack Ferrell, Laura Petrillo, Carrie Strickland, and Marian Bihrle has Princeton ranked 14th nationally.
"I feel like there are certain individuals on the team, not just myself, who realize that to do all you want you have to be intense and work hard. That rubs off on people, it took a couple of years but people finally got into it."
Farrell, for his part, believes that this team has developed a chemistry that could help them achieve that elusive Heps title. "The senior class has formed this tremendous bond," said Farrell. "They're a group the younger kids look up to. It would mean a lot to these kids. It's been a nice climb for them."
Kroshus is looking to utilize her mature perspective to scale other heights in the running world as she rushes ahead to this spring and beyond. "I'm at the point where I just want to do everything I can everyday to be smart and train hard," said Kroshus, who is interviewing for jobs in the financial field and is planning to keep competing after college.
"I just want to see where it gets me. Distance runners peak in their mid-20s. I'm just trying to keep a progressive approach, I'm looking at the long term."
At the rate she is going this fall, Kroshus could end up taking the Princeton program to some places it hasn't been in a while.
