Falcon Focus is a weekly piece highlighting one of our many outstanding student-athletes at UW-River Falls. These Falcons share their personal journeys that brought them to UW-River Falls, insights into their teams, and a few of their personal interests.

Linsey, can you give us a quick recap of your season?
This season we finished stronger and in a better place than what we really thought we were going to do when we first arrived at the first practice. I think we really surprised ourselves because every single race we got better. At the beginning of the season we weren't sure we would be hitting the times Coach (Nathan Petesch) would be saying we would, but by the end we were right there. It was neat to see us getting stronger and faster as a group.

What do you attribute that sort of success to?
I think our new coach, Coach Petesch is fantastic and we owe a lot of our success to him. We have a lot hard working athletes who are dedicated and want to improve.

You're a sophomore this year and now have a year of collegiate running under your belt. What did having that experience do for you in terms of your improvement?
It made a big difference. In high school, I did track all throughout but I didn't do cross country until my junior and senior years. In Minnesota, you run a 4K race for girls cross country and in college it's a 6K race so that alone was a big difference. The training I received in college compared to high school is not even close to the same and the practices and miles you put on now compared to then are completely different. I'm already stronger and with the better training I'm more prepared.

At NCAA Regionals, last year the team finished 24^th. This season the team made a huge jump to 12^th. Did the team have a sense that a finish like that was in the cards?
We were shooting for a top 15 finish based on how we were running and what the field was looking like. On a really good day for all of us as a whole we felt like we could have been a top 10 team. Next season that will be us.

For you personally, you finished 142^nd last season at NCAA Regionals and this year finished 51^st overall. What were you feeling prior to the race this year?
Yeah it was a really big jump. For me, I was hoping to be All-Region this year but fell just short. I was feeling good though and we came out strong. We did get one runner as an All-Region placing which was cool.

You mentioned a couple times your new coach being a big reason for the team's success. What do you feel has been done differently that has made the team respond so positively?
We talk about how our mileage has gone down this year from previous seasons and we have more recovery days. There are days where we pack more into a workout whether it is minutes or miles, but then we have more recovery afterwards. Previously we've logged a lot of miles which can be really hard on newcomers. The recovery has made a big difference for us.

Do you have any rituals or superstitions on race day?
No, not really. I get really nervous and that's about it.
 
Looking ahead to indoor track, do you see the cross country season's success carrying over?
Definitely. We'll start training immediately and it will help knowing we're already stronger than we've been.
 
Why did you choose UW-River Falls?
I wanted to double major in computer science and finance, and they have good programs here. I also wanted to run and knew I could run here. The team is small and I was looking for a smaller group. It is also only an hour from home, which is nice in case I just wanted to go home if I ever needed to.
 
What is your favorite…
Ice cream?   Vanilla
Spot on campus?  My room
Movie?   Bridesmaids
Food?   Spaghetti
Holiday?   Christmas, but that's because it's also my birthday
TV Show?   The Office
Thing to do when you aren't out running with your teammates? Just hang out with them
 
If you could race anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I'd like to run a race in Athens, Greece.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Super speed.

Dogs or cats? Dogs
Coffee or tea? Coffee
Cheeseburger or pizza? Cheeseburger
Hunter or gatherer? Gatherer
Justin Timberlake or Justin Beiber? Timberlake