June 25, 2024 • 28 mins
Welcome to PEAC- train like a girl, a podcast by GIRLS IN SPORT for GIRLS and coaches in sport. We’re here to amplify your voice- it deserves to be heard. At PEAC, we are a SAFE place for GIRLS to hang out, learn, grow, and build community. We empower GIRLS IN SPORT and coaches with the knowledge, resources, and support we think is necessary in todays athletic environments to thrive. Join us for bold conversations about the experiences of GIRLS IN SPORT. Our discussions will make you laugh, cry, cheer, get frustrated, and rethink the future of girls in sports for generations to come. Whether you’re walking, commuting, or cleaning your bedroom, take us with you. Follow us, check out our website, consider making a donation and share with a female athlete or coach you love!
Follow on IG:
Georgetown Track & Field: https://www.instagram.com/hoyastrack/
Mia Pashaa: https://www.instagram.com/miapashaa/
Personal Recruiting Coach: https://www.instagram.com/anovelli_rightontrack/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to PEAK, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by female athletes and coaches
for female athletes and coaches.
We're here to amplify your voice because it deserves to be heard.
At PEAK, we empower female athletes and coaches with knowledge,
resources, and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
(00:21):
Join us for bold conversations about the experiences of female athletes.
Our discussions will make you laugh cry
cheer get frustrated sometimes all
at the same time and hopefully rethink the
future of girls in sport for generations to come
so whether you're walking commuting or cleaning
(00:41):
your bedroom take us with you follow us check out our website consider making
a donation and share with a female athlete or coach you love now i'm not going
to spend any time introducing our next guest because you had the pleasure of
listening to her on our first podcast.
Sorry about that. On our last podcast, she kind of went through her middle school
(01:07):
and high school journey with running cross country.
So I'm super excited to dive into her recruiting process and her collegiate experience.
But before we do that, we definitely still need to get warmed up because we
need to learn a little more about Mia, are you ready to go?
So ready. Awesome. Mountains or beach?
(01:27):
Mountains. Vanilla or chocolate?
Chocolate. Dog or cat? Definitely dog.
Blow dry your hair or air dry your hair? Air dry the natural curls.
Nice. Actually, Megan, you haven't answered this one. How about you?
Oh, I'm going to have to copy her exact answer.
(01:50):
Nice. All right, Mia, summer or winter? Summer. Nice. Instagram or TikTok?
Instagram. Nice. Megan, what about you? I haven't asked you that either.
I'm going to say Instagram too. Nice. I don't even know what TikTok is.
I thought it was a relevant question. It is. It is.
(02:13):
Thank you for humoring me. All right.
So Mia, thank you so much for being candid and open on our last podcast.
Podcast it's really important and we are here to
not just share our stories or your
individual story but we're here to make an impact for
future generations so the next person
(02:36):
in line doesn't have to go through the same hiccups that we did so I really
want to just pause and really thank you for that because I know some of those
conversations can be super challenging so I I really appreciate your ability
to be both eloquent and candid.
Thank you. I really appreciate how comfortable you make this conversation for me to say those things.
(03:00):
Oh, I'm so glad. And I'm so excited that we're connected.
I don't, we haven't really, I want to talk about, you know, your recruiting
process, but we, I think I alluded a little that we, you know, had kind of met.
We do live in the same area. I am in a different high school than Mia went to,
but we were in the same conference.
(03:22):
So I had the pleasure of getting to see her develop and grow and thrive over
her four years at Warren High School. So it was such a pleasure.
And then we really connected at a day at summer camp.
I was coaching camp and she was there helping with some young, aspiring athletes.
(03:42):
And your openness and your kindness was was so refreshing that I could not stop
thinking this is a remarkable woman.
So do you remember that day we met?
Oh my gosh, absolutely. I'd just been done running hills with like five-year-olds. It was awesome.
(04:03):
But she gets accosted by this woman. But it was,
it really, and it's, I just knew from there that what I thought of you,
like watching you throughout your high school experience, kind of that openness,
you could really feel that. So So thank you for that.
I appreciate that. So talk to us a little bit about your recruiting process.
(04:27):
So we already talked about that your introduction to cross country may not have
been as fast as others, but obviously, you know, you were peaking at the right time.
So fill us in on what some of that looked like.
Yeah. One thing I find so interesting and special about like running recruit
than a different sport is really the only thing that like initially sparks a conversation is time.
(04:52):
So it doesn't really matter like how long you've been trying to get recruited or like in the sport.
They really look for like junior year if you're racing well and healthy and
are like a developed human being. They find that to stand out a lot.
And thankfully for myself, junior year, I really started to take off.
(05:13):
I was PRing by upwards of 20 seconds per race, which was just an insane dopamine-addicting feeling.
Healing and I think that really initiated
my recruiting process at the end of cross-country season
my junior year and I am so so
grateful and like enthused by my recruiting process
(05:35):
I had a phone call with a new
coach essentially every night for about three months
and it was just like overwhelming but
so like eye-opening and like such a great experience to be a part of but my
recruiting process itself was kind of facilitated by a recruiting coach who
work who reaches out to a lot of coaches or athletes in northern illinois so he reached out to me.
(06:01):
And i started working with him and i was really just like lost in the idea of
recruiting like i really didn't know if i was going to run in college at that
point i hadn't really known if like one season was enough to get me to run in
college but he reached out to coaches from like
the number one ranked D1 programs to like some really small like D2 programs.
(06:23):
To just like get me talking to coaches. And I think the best part of recruiting
is just like being able to meet all these people involved with the sport you
love and really like find the person that you really,
really like and the program that you're looking for.
So some things for me, as I went on my conversations with all these coaches
(06:43):
was I was really looking for a coach that wanted like to put effort into me as an individual,
as I was like fairly new to the sport and like
saw my potential if they gave in
to me and like supported me in that way I
knew I would want to be a program like part of the
program for me in that way so I looked for like a coach that was like willing
(07:06):
and really interested in me and then also the girls are such an important part
of like finding your team obviously that comes more into play like on your visits
but once you really connect with the coach.
It's time to see if you connect with the girls. And for me, Georgetown was just
like, immediately, I fell in love with all the girls on the team.
(07:27):
And I really think our dynamic is like no other.
I talked to probably 15 schools on unofficial visits.
So I met girls from all sorts of different locations and schools,
but clicked like Georgetown did for me.
And I really think that during the reviewing process, this is your opportunity
to use it and And find the people that are for you.
(07:49):
It's such a privilege to be able to talk to all of these schools.
And have someone interested in you.
And you really need to find what's right for you. And I really think I did there.
There's so much there. So we do have to pause. Because.
There was so much in there that I think that is going to be invaluable to high
(08:12):
school and even current college athletes that are listening.
So first of all, let me just kind of point out what I want you to kind of talk about.
You're the first person I've heard that's talked about a recruiting coach.
So I want you to circle back and tell us a little bit about that. at.
The other thing that I do want you to talk about, and I can remind you what
(08:32):
these things are, is you're right in running, the two things they're looking
at are how fast are you and are you injury free?
I do want you to spend a little time highlighting, circling back to what you
talked about in the first episode is the fact that you went through puberty
in such a healthy way, allowed you to be injury-free.
(08:54):
I mean, you do not hear that of high school athletes and high school runners
very often. That is invaluable.
So I do want you to kind of circle back with that.
The other thing that I thought that you talked about that was so beautiful was
a program that was interested in putting effort into you because even coming in,
(09:16):
similar to you coming in as a freshman in high school, coming in as a freshman in college,
you are still super young in your running career.
I mean, female runners don't blossom until so much later.
And so the the idea of putting effort and energy into something that is going
(09:36):
to continue to grow was so beautiful to me.
So can you tap back into a couple of those things?
Totally. So first, with the recruiting coach aspect, I feel so if you are in
the northern Illinois, I'll shout him out. It's Andrew Novelli.
He's really great with like reaching out to athletes and getting the journey started.
(09:56):
But I think everyone is completely getting recruited on their own without a recruiting coach.
I was just very fresh of being recruited.
And I mean, his business is great. like
his pitch is wonderful he really does help the athlete
get exposed to like a bunch of different schools so I
was working with Andrew Novelli and essentially
(10:17):
what he did is he sends like this mass email
to these schools so that he selects for you so you would like find a genre of
school that is that you would be interested in and then he sends out like a
bunch of emails to all of these coaches and it's kind of like a waiting game
to see who responds but there's an athlete profile that gets set up for you.
(10:39):
And I find it very interesting. It's very personalized to yourself.
And once these coaches respond and find interest in you, it's really about building the relationship.
So in order to build that relationship, I would be sitting on the phone with
coaches at least four times a week for 30 minutes plus talking about me as an
athlete, them as a person, their values.
(11:01):
And I think it's such an important thing to learn the values of the program
that you're going into, because that's where you will be for four years.
And obviously the transfer portal, and the current state of that,
it's like it's easy to get out, but at what cost?
So I really think it's important to find a place that you know you will be happy.
So that was kind of my like recruiting coach journey. I think it was great to
(11:25):
be like exposed to all these people.
I built so many great relationships with coaches that like at meets to this
day, like I'll like a different school's coach and like say hi to them because
I've like formed such a great relationship with them over the process.
But I think it's just like so important to favor like your values and what you're
(11:45):
looking for and make those obvious throughout the process.
Process and if they feed into those as well it
will be evident and you'll like find a good
match so for me obviously georgetown is
that and i'm just like very very grateful to
be open to all of that and then can
you remind me of the few other things yeah so the i'm
(12:06):
going to circle back to the values thing so the other thing just the benefit
of being injury free i mean benefit of being
healthy throughout your and healthy not meaning
a shape or a size but healthy meaning you're eating
enough to maintain you know normal
biological female function yeah i
think for me that was something coaches really really
(12:29):
found like an interest and benefit in throughout
the recruiting process because i i mean i've been
about like five five five six since freshman year which
is fairly rare in like cross-country because a
lot of girls end up like growing later on so I
basically was like fully grown freshman year and my
team has never been overly intense in high school which I'll get to when I when
(12:52):
we talk about college but I stayed fairly injury or like injury free throughout
high school because of that and I had like a very good manageable training plan
and coaches just found like coaches will feed into potential and I think that's very important.
Um yeah plus if you have potential like don't count
yourself out at all like even if you're not going
(13:14):
to nxn or something insane during high school
like you can still be the girl winning nationals like
parker valby i know you've been posting about her a bit but really anything
in high school and now she is 0.2 seconds away from the olympic standard and
a five time national champ so i mean really it's a lot of putting yourself out
(13:35):
there recognizing your own potential.
And once you do that, someone else will recognize your potential.
So I just think like that, as a whole is so important.
And if you're lucky enough to be healthy throughout all of high school,
it really, it really was just like a great process for me.
Yeah, that's awesome. So do you really think it's luck, though?
Or do you think it's strategic?
(13:56):
I mean, you think that you, you know, eating enough, sleeping enough,
having a good support system with your family, you know, having some other social outlets.
Do you think that played into it too? Or do you really think it's all luck?
I would say luck in the sense that I'm lucky to have a great support system,
but it's absolutely a lot of work to maintain that. Yeah.
(14:18):
I thankfully always had a really good relationship with food.
I'm a big food fan. I have a food account on Instagram. So really,
that's never been an issue for me.
And I hadn't really been aware of that until I even came to school.
And I think something interesting about like
my process is that running with the boys I never
(14:38):
really had like thoughts about my body I'd say like one positive of running
with them and I think that's so true that's a great point yeah I never had once
thought about like my body I didn't have anything to compare to because I'm
running next to boys and we're completely different human beings,
so I think that was like a very special part
(15:00):
of my training with them like there were definitely hardships about like
training with the boys rather than the girls but I never had to
think about my body and I think that really really helped
me stay healthy throughout high school and once again
that kind of plays into like my look aspect is yeah
support system I had but I think it is completely possible to get a group of
girls with a similar support system and that's something like we should carry
(15:24):
on is recognizing like comparison is possible but it's also possible to like
completely get that out of the picture and that's something that like I focus on and.
Obviously run with like a great group of women but my team is like overall it's very healthy like,
d1 team there are a lot of programs out there that are kind of known for being
(15:45):
unhealthy and mine specifically is kind of known for being so like open and
accepting and I've never really compared paired on my program.
So I'm really just like grateful for the group that I found.
That's amazing. And that connects back to your, to your values.
So when you're looking at, when you're clear with your values and other people
are clear with theirs, it helps solidify.
(16:06):
Yeah. That, so talk about that. Talk about, so now you're at Georgetown,
you just completed your freshman year.
Talk a little bit about the, you know, what that looked like from both both
an academic and athletic and social perspective and what's going on this summer.
Yeah. So my freshman definitely like had its ups and downs.
(16:29):
It just gone through like a pretty hard first semester. And I know we've just
gone on about how I've been healthy all throughout high school.
It's my first injury first semester this year.
That was just like a complete like me from what I'd been used to with like consistent running and such.
Thankfully, it didn't come from an unhealthy place, which I'm very grateful for.
(16:52):
But it's hard to go from high school running to college running,
especially when you're going.
I ran very low mileage in high school, and I didn't really train that hard.
I was just like, to give myself some credit, I'm just a pretty good athlete.
And I think in high school, that's where it came from.
But in college, it's a completely different game where everyone is a great athlete.
(17:15):
And to get to be the best you obviously have to train like so intensely.
I went from about 25 miles a week in high school to about 45 in college.
It was a like a healthy build but my body just couldn't like maintain maintain
all of it with the big adjustment freshman year and I've been doing a lot of
(17:36):
work since then to get stronger.
I've been lifting a lot which I had never done in high school so I think it's
just a lot of factors that played into it where freshman Freshman year is just
a completely different, like your entire life changes in every aspect.
And I think for like college athletes to recognize is that you're going to face so much change.
(17:56):
Like every single aspect of your life is different other than yourself.
And like all of this change and injury and any like hardship that comes out
of it is probably doable and it's okay. And that's just something you have to adjust.
So I'm like honestly grateful I did get injured
freshman year because now I know how to work through
it if it were to come again and like that was
(18:18):
like some of the hardest time I've been through with like
being removed from my team being in a new state or
district I guess but I'm just like very grateful that it came at the time and
that became so much stronger because of it oh wow that's that's amazing like
Megan do you have anything you want to kind of fill in or add there I really agree with,
(18:42):
what you said about how you can kind of take, obviously, it's a really hard
time and injury and just any health complications.
But what you can learn from it and take into it for your future is just, I think, unmatched.
I think I've had my own fair share of experiences with certain health complications.
And I think in the moment, you can kind of spiral a little bit.
(19:03):
But if you take a step back and just reflect and still think about all the things
that you can be grateful for and how you can use it to your advantage and be
even better in the future.
It's just, yeah, so I couldn't agree more. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, we should actually, because I know Lily Flader, who's going to be rowing
at Michigan State, talked about her injury.
(19:23):
We should actually do a separate podcast at some point that talks about injuries.
Because, again, we can kind of circle back to this.
Because, Mia, because one of the things that you talked about,
which is one of the things we focus on at peak is the enrich piece.
So RAST is one of our acronyms, which stands for recover, enrich, sleep and technology.
(19:48):
And enrich means finding activities or value outside of sports,
whether that's knitting or having a cooking Instagram account,
like you were talking about, or, you know, going to church, whatever that it
is, but having something that fills you outside of sport.
And I think that is even more important through injury.
(20:11):
Do you have any reflection on that, Leah? Yeah, absolutely.
I think, so this is kind of circling back to high school, but in high school I was very involved.
I was academically pretty successful, and going into college,
I knew I was going to a very intense school, but I was kind of just running.
Like, I love running, I want to succeed in running.
(20:33):
And that was kind of the first time that I like put all of my eggs in the running
basket, which I hadn't done before.
But I was just like so, so excited about it. And once the injury faced,
I was like, shoot, now let's kind of rethink some things.
And something like I absolutely love where I go to school.
I think Georgetown's in like such
(20:53):
a perfect area for me because aside from running, you're in the Capitol.
You have all these great restaurants, which I thoroughly enjoy. joy.
You have the coolest people ever. So I really played into every aspect of my
life that wasn't running.
And I found a lot of academic success this year and discovered a bunch of new
(21:14):
passions and different areas of studies, which I didn't even know were possible.
So I think as I was injured, I became a very well-read and much smarter person.
And I think maybe not much more more educated person.
And I think being able to play into that and recognizing that,
yes, I go to Georgetown for running, but hey, I go to Georgetown,
(21:36):
let's use every other resource that's available, really opened my eyes.
And now I'm just in love with the school, in love with the people,
in love with the program.
Yes, running was gone for a bit and that was difficult, but now I'm just so,
so grateful and happy where I am.
So it really opened my eyes to all of that.
(21:57):
Yeah, that's really good.
And that's a really good synopsis that not only do you pick the school and the school picks you,
but you are obviously a Division I athlete is committing so much time and energy to sport.
I don't want to downplay that, but you are there for other things.
(22:21):
I mean, I think one of the things in today's athletic environment,
you know, particularly now with NIL and everything else is that,
you know, money becomes, you know, such the thing.
And I am not saying that it's not important to figure out how to monetize off
of sport, particularly for athletes and quite frankly, for coaches.
(22:46):
I think people are under the impression that, you know, collegiate coaches or
even high school coaches are out there making, you know, millions or hundreds
of thousands of dollars. And that's a handful of people.
Right. The rest of us are like, you know, barely trying to put the lights on.
But, you know, kind of understanding I'm not I don't want to take away from that.
But one of the reasons college scholarships were there was so athletes could
(23:11):
participate in all the benefits of the school. And I don't want to lose sight of that.
I don't want to lose sight of there's so much opportunity on the campus.
So I am so deliriously thrilled that you circled back to that because you're
getting, you know, you're getting a huge education there with a ton of experience.
(23:33):
I think one thing my team does that's so incredible and totally stood out to
me throughout the recruiting process is we are all so well-rounded and amazing.
I would be best friends with all of these girls if we had never ran a minute
in our entire lives. Our relationships are so much deeper and well-rounded than just running buddies.
(23:58):
And don't get me wrong, running buddies film are some sort of connection that's
absolutely unbeatable.
But we recognize that we're full, powerful women outside of the sport.
And our team fully goes into that. Like we live to be a well-rounded,
like powerful, successful female rather than like a great runner.
(24:22):
And I think that is something that I was just like so, so, so thrilled about
during the recruiting process because no other school had this like,
we're just friends, we're just girls, but then we also run on the side.
Like, I just think it's amazing that I have two All-Americans as some of my
(24:42):
best friends, and you didn't even know they were runners unless you came to
practice every day. Like, it's amazing to me.
That is amazing. That is absolutely incredible.
It's such a fun time, too, between, obviously, the track and field event from
last weekend, and we've got the Olympic trials coming up.
It's a great time to be a runner. There's so much fun out there to see.
(25:04):
That's so awesome. Awesome. Megan, do you have anything before we cool it down and sign off?
Do you have anything that you want to ask Mia before I ask some really important questions?
I don't think I do. I did have a few questions, but she literally answered them like seconds later.
So thank you for sharing all of that.
It sounds like you're having a great experience and I'm so happy for you.
(25:27):
Thank you. Yeah, completely awesome. All right. Favorite pump me up song, Mia?
Ooh, I actually listened to this question in a podcast earlier today and was
thinking how I go through phases of pump me up songs.
So it really depends on the week, but I'll like hyper fixate.
I'd say this week is like end to the song.
(25:49):
Love it. Okay. If talent were not an issue, what sport would you love to excel in?
I love tennis. I would love to be amazing at tennis.
I love that. Singles or doubles?
As my main, but I'd want like a best friend to play doubles with.
I love it. I think that might be. I normally pick two-man bobsled and ice skating,
(26:15):
but I played tennis growing up quite seriously, actually.
And that's something I wish I
was always better at, too. As much time and energy as I put into it. Yeah.
Okay, Mia, again, this is a really big time. but favorite female athlete right now.
I am so amazed at all the collegiate women right now, but I'm a huge fan.
(26:39):
This is biased, obviously, because my teammates are also in this group.
But Melissa Riggins and Maya Ramston are just amazing.
And I love seeing powerful, educated women succeeding in areas.
Amazing. Yeah, it's been super fun. It's all been fun to watch.
All right. Best or worst advice a coach has ever given you?
(27:00):
This is my freshman year cross-country coach
i like have this motto every single day
race but i repeat to myself trust
your training trust yourself trust the process and that's
just like running through my head on the start line and it really gets me through
i love that what do you want to leave for our audience before we sign up i think
(27:24):
i've left tidbits throughout it all but But I really am an advocate of surrounding
yourself with the people that support you.
Your best friends should be your biggest fans and you should be their biggest fans.
And if that's not the case, then you shouldn't have them as close as you do.
So really focus on who's supporting you and you will succeed as much as you want.
(27:46):
I'm crying. That was awesome. I think that's so true. That was so eloquently said. I love that.
So thank you so much for being here. And thanks, everybody who's listening for being here.
And remember that Peak is more than a podcast.
We're a community. We educate and inspire and uplift.
So if our episodes resonate with you, hit the follow button.
(28:10):
Share with your friends.
Join us on Instagram at Peak. Train like a girl. Check out our website.
There's so much to explore there. And if you're feeling extra generous,
consider supporting us. Because here at Peak, we're driven by passion.
Welcome to PEAK, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by female athletes and coaches
for female athletes and coaches.
We're here to amplify your voice because it deserves to be heard.
At PEAK, we empower female athletes and coaches with knowledge,
resources, and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
(00:21):
Join us for bold conversations about the experiences of female athletes.
Our discussions will make you laugh cry
cheer get frustrated sometimes all
at the same time and hopefully rethink the
future of girls in sport for generations to come
so whether you're walking commuting or cleaning
(00:41):
your bedroom take us with you follow us check out our website consider making
a donation and share with a female athlete or coach you love now i'm not going
to spend any time introducing our next guest because you had the pleasure of
listening to her on our first podcast.
Sorry about that. On our last podcast, she kind of went through her middle school
(01:07):
and high school journey with running cross country.
So I'm super excited to dive into her recruiting process and her collegiate experience.
But before we do that, we definitely still need to get warmed up because we
need to learn a little more about Mia, are you ready to go?
So ready. Awesome. Mountains or beach?
(01:27):
Mountains. Vanilla or chocolate?
Chocolate. Dog or cat? Definitely dog.
Blow dry your hair or air dry your hair? Air dry the natural curls.
Nice. Actually, Megan, you haven't answered this one. How about you?
Oh, I'm going to have to copy her exact answer.
(01:50):
Nice. All right, Mia, summer or winter? Summer. Nice. Instagram or TikTok?
Instagram. Nice. Megan, what about you? I haven't asked you that either.
I'm going to say Instagram too. Nice. I don't even know what TikTok is.
I thought it was a relevant question. It is. It is.
(02:13):
Thank you for humoring me. All right.
So Mia, thank you so much for being candid and open on our last podcast.
Podcast it's really important and we are here to
not just share our stories or your
individual story but we're here to make an impact for
future generations so the next person
(02:36):
in line doesn't have to go through the same hiccups that we did so I really
want to just pause and really thank you for that because I know some of those
conversations can be super challenging so I I really appreciate your ability
to be both eloquent and candid.
Thank you. I really appreciate how comfortable you make this conversation for me to say those things.
(03:00):
Oh, I'm so glad. And I'm so excited that we're connected.
I don't, we haven't really, I want to talk about, you know, your recruiting
process, but we, I think I alluded a little that we, you know, had kind of met.
We do live in the same area. I am in a different high school than Mia went to,
but we were in the same conference.
(03:22):
So I had the pleasure of getting to see her develop and grow and thrive over
her four years at Warren High School. So it was such a pleasure.
And then we really connected at a day at summer camp.
I was coaching camp and she was there helping with some young, aspiring athletes.
(03:42):
And your openness and your kindness was was so refreshing that I could not stop
thinking this is a remarkable woman.
So do you remember that day we met?
Oh my gosh, absolutely. I'd just been done running hills with like five-year-olds. It was awesome.
(04:03):
But she gets accosted by this woman. But it was,
it really, and it's, I just knew from there that what I thought of you,
like watching you throughout your high school experience, kind of that openness,
you could really feel that. So So thank you for that.
I appreciate that. So talk to us a little bit about your recruiting process.
(04:27):
So we already talked about that your introduction to cross country may not have
been as fast as others, but obviously, you know, you were peaking at the right time.
So fill us in on what some of that looked like.
Yeah. One thing I find so interesting and special about like running recruit
than a different sport is really the only thing that like initially sparks a conversation is time.
(04:52):
So it doesn't really matter like how long you've been trying to get recruited or like in the sport.
They really look for like junior year if you're racing well and healthy and
are like a developed human being. They find that to stand out a lot.
And thankfully for myself, junior year, I really started to take off.
(05:13):
I was PRing by upwards of 20 seconds per race, which was just an insane dopamine-addicting feeling.
Healing and I think that really initiated
my recruiting process at the end of cross-country season
my junior year and I am so so
grateful and like enthused by my recruiting process
(05:35):
I had a phone call with a new
coach essentially every night for about three months
and it was just like overwhelming but
so like eye-opening and like such a great experience to be a part of but my
recruiting process itself was kind of facilitated by a recruiting coach who
work who reaches out to a lot of coaches or athletes in northern illinois so he reached out to me.
(06:01):
And i started working with him and i was really just like lost in the idea of
recruiting like i really didn't know if i was going to run in college at that
point i hadn't really known if like one season was enough to get me to run in
college but he reached out to coaches from like
the number one ranked D1 programs to like some really small like D2 programs.
(06:23):
To just like get me talking to coaches. And I think the best part of recruiting
is just like being able to meet all these people involved with the sport you
love and really like find the person that you really,
really like and the program that you're looking for.
So some things for me, as I went on my conversations with all these coaches
(06:43):
was I was really looking for a coach that wanted like to put effort into me as an individual,
as I was like fairly new to the sport and like
saw my potential if they gave in
to me and like supported me in that way I
knew I would want to be a program like part of the
program for me in that way so I looked for like a coach that was like willing
(07:06):
and really interested in me and then also the girls are such an important part
of like finding your team obviously that comes more into play like on your visits
but once you really connect with the coach.
It's time to see if you connect with the girls. And for me, Georgetown was just
like, immediately, I fell in love with all the girls on the team.
(07:27):
And I really think our dynamic is like no other.
I talked to probably 15 schools on unofficial visits.
So I met girls from all sorts of different locations and schools,
but clicked like Georgetown did for me.
And I really think that during the reviewing process, this is your opportunity
to use it and And find the people that are for you.
(07:49):
It's such a privilege to be able to talk to all of these schools.
And have someone interested in you.
And you really need to find what's right for you. And I really think I did there.
There's so much there. So we do have to pause. Because.
There was so much in there that I think that is going to be invaluable to high
(08:12):
school and even current college athletes that are listening.
So first of all, let me just kind of point out what I want you to kind of talk about.
You're the first person I've heard that's talked about a recruiting coach.
So I want you to circle back and tell us a little bit about that. at.
The other thing that I do want you to talk about, and I can remind you what
(08:32):
these things are, is you're right in running, the two things they're looking
at are how fast are you and are you injury free?
I do want you to spend a little time highlighting, circling back to what you
talked about in the first episode is the fact that you went through puberty
in such a healthy way, allowed you to be injury-free.
(08:54):
I mean, you do not hear that of high school athletes and high school runners
very often. That is invaluable.
So I do want you to kind of circle back with that.
The other thing that I thought that you talked about that was so beautiful was
a program that was interested in putting effort into you because even coming in,
(09:16):
similar to you coming in as a freshman in high school, coming in as a freshman in college,
you are still super young in your running career.
I mean, female runners don't blossom until so much later.
And so the the idea of putting effort and energy into something that is going
(09:36):
to continue to grow was so beautiful to me.
So can you tap back into a couple of those things?
Totally. So first, with the recruiting coach aspect, I feel so if you are in
the northern Illinois, I'll shout him out. It's Andrew Novelli.
He's really great with like reaching out to athletes and getting the journey started.
(09:56):
But I think everyone is completely getting recruited on their own without a recruiting coach.
I was just very fresh of being recruited.
And I mean, his business is great. like
his pitch is wonderful he really does help the athlete
get exposed to like a bunch of different schools so I
was working with Andrew Novelli and essentially
(10:17):
what he did is he sends like this mass email
to these schools so that he selects for you so you would like find a genre of
school that is that you would be interested in and then he sends out like a
bunch of emails to all of these coaches and it's kind of like a waiting game
to see who responds but there's an athlete profile that gets set up for you.
(10:39):
And I find it very interesting. It's very personalized to yourself.
And once these coaches respond and find interest in you, it's really about building the relationship.
So in order to build that relationship, I would be sitting on the phone with
coaches at least four times a week for 30 minutes plus talking about me as an
athlete, them as a person, their values.
(11:01):
And I think it's such an important thing to learn the values of the program
that you're going into, because that's where you will be for four years.
And obviously the transfer portal, and the current state of that,
it's like it's easy to get out, but at what cost?
So I really think it's important to find a place that you know you will be happy.
So that was kind of my like recruiting coach journey. I think it was great to
(11:25):
be like exposed to all these people.
I built so many great relationships with coaches that like at meets to this
day, like I'll like a different school's coach and like say hi to them because
I've like formed such a great relationship with them over the process.
But I think it's just like so important to favor like your values and what you're
(11:45):
looking for and make those obvious throughout the process.
Process and if they feed into those as well it
will be evident and you'll like find a good
match so for me obviously georgetown is
that and i'm just like very very grateful to
be open to all of that and then can
you remind me of the few other things yeah so the i'm
(12:06):
going to circle back to the values thing so the other thing just the benefit
of being injury free i mean benefit of being
healthy throughout your and healthy not meaning
a shape or a size but healthy meaning you're eating
enough to maintain you know normal
biological female function yeah i
think for me that was something coaches really really
(12:29):
found like an interest and benefit in throughout
the recruiting process because i i mean i've been
about like five five five six since freshman year which
is fairly rare in like cross-country because a
lot of girls end up like growing later on so I
basically was like fully grown freshman year and my
team has never been overly intense in high school which I'll get to when I when
(12:52):
we talk about college but I stayed fairly injury or like injury free throughout
high school because of that and I had like a very good manageable training plan
and coaches just found like coaches will feed into potential and I think that's very important.
Um yeah plus if you have potential like don't count
yourself out at all like even if you're not going
(13:14):
to nxn or something insane during high school
like you can still be the girl winning nationals like
parker valby i know you've been posting about her a bit but really anything
in high school and now she is 0.2 seconds away from the olympic standard and
a five time national champ so i mean really it's a lot of putting yourself out
(13:35):
there recognizing your own potential.
And once you do that, someone else will recognize your potential.
So I just think like that, as a whole is so important.
And if you're lucky enough to be healthy throughout all of high school,
it really, it really was just like a great process for me.
Yeah, that's awesome. So do you really think it's luck, though?
Or do you think it's strategic?
(13:56):
I mean, you think that you, you know, eating enough, sleeping enough,
having a good support system with your family, you know, having some other social outlets.
Do you think that played into it too? Or do you really think it's all luck?
I would say luck in the sense that I'm lucky to have a great support system,
but it's absolutely a lot of work to maintain that. Yeah.
(14:18):
I thankfully always had a really good relationship with food.
I'm a big food fan. I have a food account on Instagram. So really,
that's never been an issue for me.
And I hadn't really been aware of that until I even came to school.
And I think something interesting about like
my process is that running with the boys I never
(14:38):
really had like thoughts about my body I'd say like one positive of running
with them and I think that's so true that's a great point yeah I never had once
thought about like my body I didn't have anything to compare to because I'm
running next to boys and we're completely different human beings,
so I think that was like a very special part
(15:00):
of my training with them like there were definitely hardships about like
training with the boys rather than the girls but I never had to
think about my body and I think that really really helped
me stay healthy throughout high school and once again
that kind of plays into like my look aspect is yeah
support system I had but I think it is completely possible to get a group of
girls with a similar support system and that's something like we should carry
(15:24):
on is recognizing like comparison is possible but it's also possible to like
completely get that out of the picture and that's something that like I focus on and.
Obviously run with like a great group of women but my team is like overall it's very healthy like,
d1 team there are a lot of programs out there that are kind of known for being
(15:45):
unhealthy and mine specifically is kind of known for being so like open and
accepting and I've never really compared paired on my program.
So I'm really just like grateful for the group that I found.
That's amazing. And that connects back to your, to your values.
So when you're looking at, when you're clear with your values and other people
are clear with theirs, it helps solidify.
(16:06):
Yeah. That, so talk about that. Talk about, so now you're at Georgetown,
you just completed your freshman year.
Talk a little bit about the, you know, what that looked like from both both
an academic and athletic and social perspective and what's going on this summer.
Yeah. So my freshman definitely like had its ups and downs.
(16:29):
It just gone through like a pretty hard first semester. And I know we've just
gone on about how I've been healthy all throughout high school.
It's my first injury first semester this year.
That was just like a complete like me from what I'd been used to with like consistent running and such.
Thankfully, it didn't come from an unhealthy place, which I'm very grateful for.
(16:52):
But it's hard to go from high school running to college running,
especially when you're going.
I ran very low mileage in high school, and I didn't really train that hard.
I was just like, to give myself some credit, I'm just a pretty good athlete.
And I think in high school, that's where it came from.
But in college, it's a completely different game where everyone is a great athlete.
(17:15):
And to get to be the best you obviously have to train like so intensely.
I went from about 25 miles a week in high school to about 45 in college.
It was a like a healthy build but my body just couldn't like maintain maintain
all of it with the big adjustment freshman year and I've been doing a lot of
(17:36):
work since then to get stronger.
I've been lifting a lot which I had never done in high school so I think it's
just a lot of factors that played into it where freshman Freshman year is just
a completely different, like your entire life changes in every aspect.
And I think for like college athletes to recognize is that you're going to face so much change.
(17:56):
Like every single aspect of your life is different other than yourself.
And like all of this change and injury and any like hardship that comes out
of it is probably doable and it's okay. And that's just something you have to adjust.
So I'm like honestly grateful I did get injured
freshman year because now I know how to work through
it if it were to come again and like that was
(18:18):
like some of the hardest time I've been through with like
being removed from my team being in a new state or
district I guess but I'm just like very grateful that it came at the time and
that became so much stronger because of it oh wow that's that's amazing like
Megan do you have anything you want to kind of fill in or add there I really agree with,
(18:42):
what you said about how you can kind of take, obviously, it's a really hard
time and injury and just any health complications.
But what you can learn from it and take into it for your future is just, I think, unmatched.
I think I've had my own fair share of experiences with certain health complications.
And I think in the moment, you can kind of spiral a little bit.
(19:03):
But if you take a step back and just reflect and still think about all the things
that you can be grateful for and how you can use it to your advantage and be
even better in the future.
It's just, yeah, so I couldn't agree more. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, we should actually, because I know Lily Flader, who's going to be rowing
at Michigan State, talked about her injury.
(19:23):
We should actually do a separate podcast at some point that talks about injuries.
Because, again, we can kind of circle back to this.
Because, Mia, because one of the things that you talked about,
which is one of the things we focus on at peak is the enrich piece.
So RAST is one of our acronyms, which stands for recover, enrich, sleep and technology.
(19:48):
And enrich means finding activities or value outside of sports,
whether that's knitting or having a cooking Instagram account,
like you were talking about, or, you know, going to church, whatever that it
is, but having something that fills you outside of sport.
And I think that is even more important through injury.
(20:11):
Do you have any reflection on that, Leah? Yeah, absolutely.
I think, so this is kind of circling back to high school, but in high school I was very involved.
I was academically pretty successful, and going into college,
I knew I was going to a very intense school, but I was kind of just running.
Like, I love running, I want to succeed in running.
(20:33):
And that was kind of the first time that I like put all of my eggs in the running
basket, which I hadn't done before.
But I was just like so, so excited about it. And once the injury faced,
I was like, shoot, now let's kind of rethink some things.
And something like I absolutely love where I go to school.
I think Georgetown's in like such
(20:53):
a perfect area for me because aside from running, you're in the Capitol.
You have all these great restaurants, which I thoroughly enjoy. joy.
You have the coolest people ever. So I really played into every aspect of my
life that wasn't running.
And I found a lot of academic success this year and discovered a bunch of new
(21:14):
passions and different areas of studies, which I didn't even know were possible.
So I think as I was injured, I became a very well-read and much smarter person.
And I think maybe not much more more educated person.
And I think being able to play into that and recognizing that,
yes, I go to Georgetown for running, but hey, I go to Georgetown,
(21:36):
let's use every other resource that's available, really opened my eyes.
And now I'm just in love with the school, in love with the people,
in love with the program.
Yes, running was gone for a bit and that was difficult, but now I'm just so,
so grateful and happy where I am.
So it really opened my eyes to all of that.
(21:57):
Yeah, that's really good.
And that's a really good synopsis that not only do you pick the school and the school picks you,
but you are obviously a Division I athlete is committing so much time and energy to sport.
I don't want to downplay that, but you are there for other things.
(22:21):
I mean, I think one of the things in today's athletic environment,
you know, particularly now with NIL and everything else is that,
you know, money becomes, you know, such the thing.
And I am not saying that it's not important to figure out how to monetize off
of sport, particularly for athletes and quite frankly, for coaches.
(22:46):
I think people are under the impression that, you know, collegiate coaches or
even high school coaches are out there making, you know, millions or hundreds
of thousands of dollars. And that's a handful of people.
Right. The rest of us are like, you know, barely trying to put the lights on.
But, you know, kind of understanding I'm not I don't want to take away from that.
But one of the reasons college scholarships were there was so athletes could
(23:11):
participate in all the benefits of the school. And I don't want to lose sight of that.
I don't want to lose sight of there's so much opportunity on the campus.
So I am so deliriously thrilled that you circled back to that because you're
getting, you know, you're getting a huge education there with a ton of experience.
(23:33):
I think one thing my team does that's so incredible and totally stood out to
me throughout the recruiting process is we are all so well-rounded and amazing.
I would be best friends with all of these girls if we had never ran a minute
in our entire lives. Our relationships are so much deeper and well-rounded than just running buddies.
(23:58):
And don't get me wrong, running buddies film are some sort of connection that's
absolutely unbeatable.
But we recognize that we're full, powerful women outside of the sport.
And our team fully goes into that. Like we live to be a well-rounded,
like powerful, successful female rather than like a great runner.
(24:22):
And I think that is something that I was just like so, so, so thrilled about
during the recruiting process because no other school had this like,
we're just friends, we're just girls, but then we also run on the side.
Like, I just think it's amazing that I have two All-Americans as some of my
(24:42):
best friends, and you didn't even know they were runners unless you came to
practice every day. Like, it's amazing to me.
That is amazing. That is absolutely incredible.
It's such a fun time, too, between, obviously, the track and field event from
last weekend, and we've got the Olympic trials coming up.
It's a great time to be a runner. There's so much fun out there to see.
(25:04):
That's so awesome. Awesome. Megan, do you have anything before we cool it down and sign off?
Do you have anything that you want to ask Mia before I ask some really important questions?
I don't think I do. I did have a few questions, but she literally answered them like seconds later.
So thank you for sharing all of that.
It sounds like you're having a great experience and I'm so happy for you.
(25:27):
Thank you. Yeah, completely awesome. All right. Favorite pump me up song, Mia?
Ooh, I actually listened to this question in a podcast earlier today and was
thinking how I go through phases of pump me up songs.
So it really depends on the week, but I'll like hyper fixate.
I'd say this week is like end to the song.
(25:49):
Love it. Okay. If talent were not an issue, what sport would you love to excel in?
I love tennis. I would love to be amazing at tennis.
I love that. Singles or doubles?
As my main, but I'd want like a best friend to play doubles with.
I love it. I think that might be. I normally pick two-man bobsled and ice skating,
(26:15):
but I played tennis growing up quite seriously, actually.
And that's something I wish I
was always better at, too. As much time and energy as I put into it. Yeah.
Okay, Mia, again, this is a really big time. but favorite female athlete right now.
I am so amazed at all the collegiate women right now, but I'm a huge fan.
(26:39):
This is biased, obviously, because my teammates are also in this group.
But Melissa Riggins and Maya Ramston are just amazing.
And I love seeing powerful, educated women succeeding in areas.
Amazing. Yeah, it's been super fun. It's all been fun to watch.
All right. Best or worst advice a coach has ever given you?
(27:00):
This is my freshman year cross-country coach
i like have this motto every single day
race but i repeat to myself trust
your training trust yourself trust the process and that's
just like running through my head on the start line and it really gets me through
i love that what do you want to leave for our audience before we sign up i think
(27:24):
i've left tidbits throughout it all but But I really am an advocate of surrounding
yourself with the people that support you.
Your best friends should be your biggest fans and you should be their biggest fans.
And if that's not the case, then you shouldn't have them as close as you do.
So really focus on who's supporting you and you will succeed as much as you want.
(27:46):
I'm crying. That was awesome. I think that's so true. That was so eloquently said. I love that.
So thank you so much for being here. And thanks, everybody who's listening for being here.
And remember that Peak is more than a podcast.
We're a community. We educate and inspire and uplift.
So if our episodes resonate with you, hit the follow button.
(28:10):
Share with your friends.
Join us on Instagram at Peak. Train like a girl. Check out our website.
There's so much to explore there. And if you're feeling extra generous,
consider supporting us. Because here at Peak, we're driven by passion.
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.