Junior Steven Flynn and redshirt senior Stuart Lampen-Crowell recently began their cross country season, the conclusion of which at the end of the fall will lead to their representation of Mason in the distance running disciplines of the indoor and later outdoor track and field season. In an extensive exclusive interview with GoMason.com, they shared how their running journeys began, leaked some specifics to their busy lifestyles, shattered the common misconception that cross country is entirely an individual sport and, of course, talked about their goals for the remainder of the season.
When and how did you get into running?
Flynn: I was going into my freshman year of high school and I did cross country throughout middle school and I would run just to stay in shape for baseball. When I did cross country in high school, I was persuaded to stay with running because I started falling out of love with baseball and falling in love with running – I got better, my timing improved, and it was more individual, which I liked.
Lampen-Crowell: I got into running because I have always been around it. My dad owns a specialty retail running store up in Michigan, where I am from, so he always had me in fun runs for kids. I actually started to win those when I was young, so I found out that I liked that really early. I played other sports as well but I always knew I would pursue running and once I got to high school, I knew I wanted to run in college.
How do you recover from practices and races?
Flynn: I would say there are two ways to recover – mentally and physically. If you do really well, you get something of a “high high” and mentally just ease back down from it and realize that the season is not over and you have a long way to go. Talking it over with my teammates has always been another way for me to recover mentally. Physically, sometimes you don't get a lot of physical recovery [both laugh], but we rotate a hard day with an easy day and at this point of the season we try not to stress too much about the running aspect.
Lampen-Crowell: I am going to echo off what Steve said. Sometimes you can really get a “high high” if you have a good race, but you can also get in a “low low” if you underperform, especially in a race that matters, like a championship race. I have been there and, for me, recovering from that has always depended on my teammates picking me up, telling me that it is alright and 'yeah, you messed up today, but we know you, we know you are better than that, and we forgive you.' The other half of the recovery you do yourself, reminding yourself that there is a next race, a next season and a new goal. You have to try to move forward as quickly as you can while learning as much as you can from these moments.
What are your individual goals for this season?
Flynn: Last year I was third [at the Atlantic 10 Championship], so I want to repeat or improve on that. One of my goals is to definitely stay in top five at the A-10 [Championship]. The next one, as a team, is to perform well at the regional championship, it is one thing we didn't do last year. We were seeded 14th, but we knew we were capable of doing so much better and still got 14th place or so, so a goal of ours is to do well at regionals. For me, specifically, I want to be [on the] All-Region [team], which is going to be pretty tough – the Southeast region is difficult, it has some very solid teams.
Lampen-Crowell: Mine are similar – to make top five in the A-10 (actually top three would be my highest goal, top five is what I would settle for [both laugh] and I would not be happy with anything lower) and definitely make the All-Region team at regionals. Our team goal there is to definitely be in the top five because, like Steve said, we are in a tough region and that would be a tremendous success for the program.
How do you turn the frustration from being traditionally ranked lower than what you think you deserve into motivation to prove that you are actually better than you are on paper?
Flynn: It depends on how the season goes and how we feel going into that specific part of the season.
Lampen-Crowell: We don't do anything specific when that happens because [Coach Andrew] Gerard doesn't care about rankings, he only cares about the day, how you perform on the day. Yes, we do get a little frustrated, because we are always under-ranked – historically, we are super under-ranked – however it has fueled some fire in the past so we can use that tendency as a good thing. But we are definitely taught by Gerard not to take these rankings into account too much.
Flynn: We also try to stay under the radar throughout the season. We do not go to those crazy big meets and national meets which would put us on a big stage. We try to stay under the radar and surprise people at the regional level.
What is the aspect of cross country that you value the most in respect to how it has helped you succeed in other areas of life?
Lampen-Crowell: I have a two-part answer [laughs]. The thing that it helps out with in college is time management because in college, no manner if you are a student-athlete or not, you have to get at least a handle of how to manage your time or else you won't be successful. Having the student-athlete lifestyle, you have the chance – and some people do better than others in this – to be a really, really good time manager, because you have to, you are circumstantially forced to. It is hard, but if you get that skill down, opportunities tend to open up for you. That is definitely one skill that I have been able to hone in by being a part of a team, but outside of my time with the team, it is applicable to every other aspect of my life.
Flynn: I would again divide my answer into a physical aspect and a mental aspect. One thing that I admire about the cross country season is how aerobically fit we get – it really helps us get through the indoor and outdoor [track and field] seasons with the base that we are building. The mental aspect is, you can't just do it, you have to really want to achieve these goals and not just look on them as things that are nice to have. You have to set that mentality from day one and to be mentally motivated throughout the whole season. That is the hardest thing, and we are all still learning it to a certain extent.
Lampen-Crowell: …and that is why you need more than one person to be accountable for you to achieve that goal. [Flynn laughs and nods] You are not going to be able to carry the amount of motivation it takes on your own. Not only for the cross country season, but right after it you have indoor and outdoor track…to live the lifestyle we live, you have to have other people who are as committed as you or else it is just…
Flynn: …because there are a lot of days when we wake up and we are like 'uhhh, I have to do 18 miles today, it's going to be rough.' Our whole team would have groups of five or six runners who run together and that helps us get through it.
What is your most satisfying sport moment, whether as an athlete or a fan?
Flynn: My favorite moment was on the track at our home meet this past spring. We had four or five heats in the men's 1,500-meter discipline and I was placed in the faster heat. We had a pace-setter to pace us through the first 1,200 m and I was just having a good day and ran really well and to see the clock as I came through [the finish line] in a huge personal record for me was my favorite moment. And then hearing the time while being so tired was extremely satisfying after having worked so hard throughout the whole season just to get to that moment, knowing that this time would qualify me for regionals. I can also add to that hearing from others how Coach was skipping around and jumping for joy on the other side of the track.
Lampen-Crowell: I have had a couple of moments over my time being here when I have been injured and up on the bike up there [points toward the trainer's room in the Field House] pedaling away and visualizing over and over and over again the same thing – winning a meet or performing really well. And then I have had that happen to me the following season or year, finally getting to that line on the day and executing what you have visualized doing for long periods of time. Those are the most satisfying moments for me because that is when you prove to yourself that all the work put in – sometimes miserable work – was worth it and came to fruition. Steve and I have been around for long enough to see a lot of people not get through those moments and quitting, that is why overcoming them and seeing the hard work come to fruition is major.
