Junior Trish Nolan at Van Cortlandt Park (Shane Conway)

1. You were recently voted by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association as the top female cross country student-athlete in the nation, based on your 62nd place finish at Nationals and your stellar academic standing. What helps you balance your life as a pre-med student and an elite athlete? Do you do anything special to relax from the stresses of racing and school?

You know, it's funny to me how many people seem to think that academic and athletic successes are mutually antagonistic. Playing sports keeps me motivated and focused in every part of my life. Although running takes up a lot of potential study time, balancing intense training and school has taught me self-discipline and time management that benefit me more than a few extra hours in the library ever could. While finding a balance between school and running can be difficult, it is even harder to do so without driving yourself completely crazy! This is where my friends and family come in. I depend on those people who periodically abduct me from my life as a student-athlete and force me to relax, have fun and remember that I am, in fact, a college student lucky to be living in the greatest city in the world. Whether it involves taking a study break on the roof of our dorm or getting dressed up for the Halloween parade in Greenwich Village, my friends make sure I don't loose myself trying to cope with all of the demands of Columbia XC and Columbia pre-med.

2. Compared to other top teams, Columbia is something of a team without a huge standout star, having no All-Americans last year. How does that affect the team racing strategy? Since the team is a tight pack, is there a lot of competitiveness amongst you and your teammates?

In my time at Columbia, our racing strategy has never changed, "lions run in a pack." Meaning that if you have to slow down a little to pull a teammate through, you do it, the good of the whole is better than the good of one especially when points are concerned. Now, with more talent than ever, this philosophy is particularly meaningful because it means we are all interchangeable on race day. For us the idea that the 5th, 6th and 7th runners are as important as the first is not mere rhetoric because it is our small first to 7th spread that makes us competitive with some of the top teams in the nation.

3. What is the hardest workout for you? And what is the hardest class for you?

I have always found the hardest classes to be those which involve critical thinking and assertions of personal opinion. It is tremendously difficult to get past the self-consciousness which comes along with opening up your thoughts and feelings for others to see and perhaps even criticize. The same is true with running in the sense that when doing a difficult workout with a teammate, you are both forced to communicate how you are feeling at any given moment; revealing personal weaknesses. While this mutual vulnerability can be unsettling at first, it is an important part of being part of a team. It is in pulling one another through countless tough workouts that we can develop an awareness of one another that is invaluable on race day.

4. What type of mileage do you work up to?

Low to mid 70's before we start racing in cross, then we start to take it down.

5. 1998 was the first time that the Columbia women ever defeated even a single other Ivy team in competition. Already by last year, the Lady Lions set a league record for largest margin of victory. Are you looking past the league meet to nationals already?

We always try to look past Heps in terms of workouts and mileage tapering. However, it is not a race that it is really possible to de-emphasize. We try to think about winning or performing well at the Ivy League championships as simply a sub goal in a season that culminates with nationals, but it certainly never feels that way. Stepping on the starting line at Heps is a very powerful experience in a totally different way than doing so at nationals. The increased alumni and student support at this home-course meet gives the competing athlete a great deal of confidence while the tradition which permeates the event relays a sense of responsibility. It becomes, more than any race I've ever run, an emotional experience.

6. With the graduation of the O'Neill sisters from Yale and a few other top Ivy runners, Columbia now has 5 of the top 6 returning cross-country runners in the league, with only Princeton Sr. Emily Kroshus splitting the Lions. Add to that the transfer to Columbia of Duke Sophomore Caroline Bierbaum, who was the top Blue Devil finisher at NCAAs at 34th, and it looks like another "margin-of-victory" record in the making. Is anybody talking about becoming the first team in league history to score 15 points at the league meet?

While we are very excited about our prospects at Heps and beyond this season we try not to emphasize the external expectations that come with past performances. Pre-season polls, for example, while interesting to look at, can never truly take into account all of the variables, especially with cross-country, a sport in which a collection of individual performances is the measure of team success. We are very excited about strong returning varsity runners, those stepping up from JV, as well as strong freshmen and transfer classes. But whether we win Heps again, finish with the best of NCAA, or break the kinds of league records you are talking about is not yet decided and is not what is important at this point. A favorite saying on the team is "what are you doing to get there?" While particular accomplishments and accolades are meaningful goals, they are end points which it is unwise to overemphasize. Individual dedication to the team and training are our focus at this point because they are aspects of the sport which can be controlled on a day to day and minute to minute basis. Where we want our season to take us is indeed important, but it is always secondary to the process which will get us there.

7. How do you like running in New York? Do you have any particularly memorable urban running moments?

I love running in New York! On our easy days running from campus we alternate between routes in Central Park and Riverside Park (along the Hudson River). It is refreshing to run past hundreds of people over the course of a given run who are doing the same thing we are, particularly when many of us are used to people staring slack jawed and astounded when we run in our respective hometowns. Our location provides us with opportunities to bus to nearby Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx or to Rockefeller State Park where we can run for 15 scenic miles without ever repeating. We have our mascots, like the man selling incense just before Central who inexplicably tells us to: "run it out, girls!" every time we pass, and the high school boys at Van Cortlandt Park who never fail to ask us what school we go to (St. Bernadette's Catholic High School for Girls being our usual answer). It is like no other place in the world.

8. Did you have to make any adjustments either academically or athletically coming from Canada?

While there are many things I like about Canadian intercollegiate athletics over American, including a scholarship-free, no strings attached system which allows only the most self-motivated individuals competing for love of the sport to succeed, there are obviously reasons I chose to come to the US rather than stay at home. Coming to Columbia represented the opportunity to study at an exceptional academic school while benefiting from the superior coaching and competition only available to athletes in the NCAA Division I.

9. What are your plans for after college? Do you plan to continue running?

I took my MCATs this past summer and am looking at medicine as my most likely career choice for the future. While competitive running is an extremely important part of my life now, my plans for running after college are not, as of now, in the competitive arena. As far as I am concerned, my time to excel as an elite athlete is now, while I have the time, relatively speaking, and the energy to devote to this very demanding sport. I cannot completely rule out competition after college and it will indeed be difficult to say goodbye to a sport that has given me so much. I am confident, however, that running will continue to exert positive effects on my life long after it has ceased to be more than a recreational activity for me.

10. It's very difficult for many graduates to continue with competitive running in the U.S. unless they are at the very top. Is it any different in Canada?

I think it is the same everywhere in North America. Since track and cross-country running are not regarded as entertaining to watch, the only way to make enough money to continue training for a significant amount of time is to land large promotional deals which are available to only a few very elite athletes. Amateur athletes in most sports complain of under funding in Canada as they do here and bureaucratic mismanagement of funds is always a problem. I have tremendous respect for those who must cope with an often inefficient system to reach the highest level in their sport, but I do not envy them.

11. Have you ever been frustrated and had moments where you felt like you just could not excel as much as you wanted both in the classroom and on the track at the same time?

YES! I think you would have to be the most laid-back person in the world not to get frustrated by all the sacrifices you have to make to be a student-athlete. Worrying when practice takes longer than expected because you have an exam to study for, worrying when studying for that exam takes longer than expected because you have to get sleep for your workout the next day, these are the realities we have to deal with all the time. The constraints that being an athlete impose on academic life and vice versa are unavoidable; it is your attitude towards them that you can control. I've had my ups and downs in terms of getting totally overwhelmed and stressed out, as most anyone I know can attest to. The most difficult part of the whole business is not actually balancing of track and school but rather the preservation of a positive attitude while doing it. Remaining positive, however, is also the most crucial challenge because, in my experience, any success achieved in either athletics or academics cannot be savored or enjoyed when you're unhappy

12. What event do you plan to focus on during track? Do have a goal in mind?

I've always loved the 5000m but with better endurance than speed, I've known for some time that the 10,000m is likely to be my event. I plan to try it during the track season this year but it is hard to say at this point what that season will bring. Honestly, it has always been difficult for me to think too far in the future and right now I'm focused on going to nationals in Iowa with an exceptional team of exceptional women. Do I want to make NCAAs in track this year? Yes … am I thinking about that now? No.

13. In one sentence, describe your opinion of what has allowed Columbia women's cross country to rise in just a few years from one of the worst Division-I programs to one of the best.

Can't do it in a sentence … so how 'bout an abridged list?: a coach who refused to accept "good-for-an-Ivy-League;" a freshman class in 2000 that got the rest of us looking at Columbia (Caitlin Hickin, Melissa Stellato etc.); a racing strategy that says: "it doesn't matter who's first as long as we get in 7 runners before their 5th;" training that takes great recruits and makes them better; but mostly, a whole lot of girls with a whole lot of heart.

14. Are there any particular athletes that you look up to?

Although I do not have what most would consider "sports heroes" I have always admired my older sister, Kathleen, as both as an athlete and as a human being. She has supported me through all the ups and downs that competing in sports can bring and I have no doubt that without her encouragement, I would not be where I am. She is also one of those extraordinary individuals who is completely unselfish in sport. As the captain of her cross-country team (the Guelph Gryphons - University of Guelph in Canada) she never begrudges a fine performance even if it means that someone who would not normally finish ahead of her does. She strives to not only do her best, but also bring out the best in others, which she has done not only with her team, but with me.

15. Do you get back to see your family at all during the year? Or do they get to come see you race?

Although I love my life as an Ivy-League athlete, it involves a great deal of commitment which prevents me from getting home very often. Thankfully, since New York is not very far from my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario my family is able to come down fairly often either to watch me race or visit and most often, both. Fortunately, living in this amazing city makes it easy for me to entice many visitors from home.