Sharp pain streams down his leg to his calf, as junior Riley Schamp attempts to overcome the physical agony with mental endurance. Crossing the finish line starts to feel impossible as he slows down immensely, going from leading the race to the back of the herd. Mile two hits and Schamp is forced to drop out of the race due to the severe agony. Unfortunately, in this race, the pain won.
Schamp did not take this loss as a defeat but as motivation. On Sept. 21, he pushed through the pain and finished with a time of 16:55. Although his personal best is 15:42 with a goal of running sub 15:30, Schamp’s priority was simply finishing, not outrunning others.
“Time off [from running] and time right after [I run] a bad race doesn’t make me happy, learning to stay in the moment and enjoy what I do,” Schamp said. “With a couple of our teammates struggling with injuries, we’ve all been able to bounce back and focus on the future. Developing in the team’s atmosphere has been vital, we can consider each other brothers.”
Schamp’s teammate, sophomore Isaac Smith, also experienced an injury this season, forcing him to sit out races completely. Smith strained the extensor hallucis longus (EHL) tendon in his left foot, causing pain when pressure was put on the foot.
“This injury made me frustrated at the beginning because no one really told me the recovery time,” Smith said. “But later, I learned that patience and serenity were important. I had to look at it as an opportunity to grow as a person and teammate.”
Knowing there is a finish line but not being able to see where it is can be beyond tormenting to injured athletes. A support system always helps athletes get through tough times, and the cross-country team one hundred percent has one.
“My team has always been supportive and understanding, they didn’t want me to come back as fast as possible, but they wanted me to come back healthy…” Smith said. “Watching other guys on my team being injured always stings a little. Those guys are pretty much my family … when I lose that opportunity to do what I love with the people I care about, it hurts.”
Family is one of the core values of this team. Not only do these runners race together, but they spend time bonding and making memories outside of practice.
“At the end of the day I’m more than a runner,” Schamp said. “Being a part of a team [where] even when I’m not a great runner I have a place to be myself [is what matters the most].”
