by Andrea Parker (5/17/05)

Rudzinska has won 10 MAC individual titles at Akron

For some runners, the pressure to compete against the top collegiate athletes in the nation causes nothing short of panic, but for others it is the driving force that gets them out of bed each morning. Beata Rudzinska of the University of Akron doesn’t feel this pressure because she is just happy to have good competition.

Hailing from Ilawa, Poland, Rudzinska started her track and field career at 14 as a high jumper, but was quickly encouraged to try her hand at the middle distances. Immediately finding success in the 600 meter run, Rudzinska had to search internationally for competition that could keep up with her.

Rudzinska has been an All-American on three separate occasions in the 800-meter run for the Zips but was not expecting her list of running accolades to extend as far as it has.

“I didn’t expect that much success, at the beginning I thought I was just going to stay at the same times,” commented the 22-year-old Rudzinska. “I surprised myself and I improved so I’m happy about that.”

As any coach would be pleased with a former Polish National champion on their team, Beata’s coaches find that her willingness to work, attention to detail and focus on her training make her relatively easy to coach.

“Beata is very mature as an athlete and possesses a very strong work ethic,” said assistant track coach Scott Jones. “She understands the training process very well and has a very technical approach to her training. She is extremely motivated to succeed as an athlete.”

“I was a national champ a few times for the 600 then for the 800,” said the humble Rudzinska. “Then I went to the European championships for under 23-year-olds when I was in Poland.”

Rudzinska was second in the 600-meter run at the 1997 Polish National Championships and first in at the 1998 and 1999 indoor championships. Since then she has breezed to six straight indoor and outdoor 800-meter Mid-American Conference titles, as well as titles in the 1,500-meter run and mile, bringing her individual title count up to ten.

Having an, “archetypal physique of an 800-meter runner”, Beata was described at first as physically intimidating to her teammates observed Jones. However, head track and field coach Dennis Mitchell said that Beata is respected and liked by all team members and they know that she will come through for them.

“Beata really puts it on the line when she competes on a relay or for a team championship,” Mitchell said. “She follows race plans well when it involves pacing and benefiting other team members.”

Having earned the MAC Outstanding Performer Award in 2004, Rudzinska also owns or shares seven school records in the 400 meter run indoor, 800-meter run indoor and outdoor, mile, Distance Medley Relay, 1,600-meter relay outdoors, and Sprint Medley Relay. Her goals coming in to college were nothing short of lofty, but she is on the path to achieving them all.

“Coming into college here I had a 2:05 personal record in the 800, but I wanted to better that,” said former University of Gdansk student. “I wanted to run a 2:04 or so and I wanted improve every year, so far it has worked. I am hoping I will keep improving.”

Improvment is the name of the game for the two-time winner of the Caroline Pardee Award as University of Akron Female Athlete of the Year (2003, 2004). Rudzinska continues to have breakthrough races for the Zips.

“The first breakthrough was at Drake Relays in 2003 when she ran 2:04.79,” said Jones. “It was her first PR while at Akron and helped her have confidence in what she was doing here. The other was at this year’s NCAA indoor meet where she came in with the 12th best time and ended up third with a seasonal best time of 2:04.12.”

The detail oriented Rudzinska said that her decision to come to Akron was not just based on athletics, but rather the opportunity to speak fluently in a second language and earn another degree. Akron was the only university that offered Rudzinska English lessons before she arrived, which, she said, helped her feel more prepared. The idea of combining running, earning a degree and learning another language was an exciting prospect for her.

Having earned a marketing and management degree at the University of Gdansk in Poland, Rudzinska wanted to try and elaborate on it at the University of Akron, but found some difficulty in doing so.

“I was trying to find something that would be the same as the Polish degree because I was already familiar with it and had the same major back home,” revealed Rudzinska, “but Akron didn’t have a similar degree. They had international business, so I tried that.”

Since arriving in the US, Rudzinska has improved her English immensely and found that she loves to spend her precious free time just like every other college student: hanging out with her friends, listening to Green Day and Maroon 5, and going to the movies. When asked about what television shows she enjoys, Beata laughed and replied that she doesn’t watch TV at all. She just doesn’t have time for it.

With her eye on the future, Rudzinska said that she wants to get a contract and run professionally after her May 2006 graduation. However, Rudzinska will not be staying in the United States, much to her coach’s dismay, because she will find it nice to get back home and slip back into her old routine with her coach in Poland.

“It’s obvious how much she has meant to our program quantitatively – the school records, the All American honors, the conference championships,” pointed out Jones, “but of course the bonds that we, her teammates, the other coaches, and I have established with her go much deeper than that and so what we’ll really miss is Beata the person. Fortunately for me, she has another cross country season so I don’t really have to think about this for a few months.”

Rudzinska may be one of few runners who actually enjoys getting nervous before races, but to her, experiencing those emotions and triumphing over them is a good indicator that she is prepared for a race. It is that remarkable ability that allows her to focus on her competition and settle into the mindset of a champion.