Interview with senior cross-country runner Mandy Janosz

By Mark Siefert

In honor of the Chicago Marathon, I wanted to use this week’s blog to look at and admire those SXU athletes who run everyday. The SXU cross-country teams are not only some of the best runners in the area but in the nation. They have competed with the Division 1 runners for many years and have stood up to them and proved their might. I personally find cross-country the most taxing sport at SXU.

Personally, I know I couldn’t run the amount they run, and I can say as fact that many of the other athletes from other teams couldn’t keep up with these guys and girls. When I came here as a freshman, I never thought about whether our cross-country team was any good, but after one semester of the likes of Lauren Dentzman, Amy Poull and Mandy Janosz running for SXU, our team was all over the school paper along with many other publications. The next thing I knew, I was at Eastern Illinois for the weekend and I saw the SXU men facing off again against some very tough D1 runners, and competing. Coaches Lisa Ebel and Ed McAllister have brought both of these programs into the forefront not only in the CCAC but in the entire NAIA.

Just last week I was talking to one of the runners about how they have a race the next day, and she said she had to run today since they had a race tomorrow. I asked, don’t you wan to rest the day before? She said yes, that’s why I am only running eight miles today. Running eight miles before a 3.2 mile race? You have to be a great athlete in order to do that, and I look up to many cross-country runners for their passion.

This week’s interview was with senior runner Mandy Janosz.

Mark Siefert: What is your daily schedule/ routine look like during the week with practice, meetings, and class?
Mandy: My daily schedule consist of class, practice, studying. We have meets on the weekends which take up the majority of our Saturdays.
MS: How many hours a week are you doing cross country related activity?
MJ: Including meets on the weekends, cross country takes out about 15 hours of my time. Everyday the workouts are different. For example, Mondays we do long runs (8-10 miles) and then some abs or core conditioning. Tuesday is a speed workout on the track. Wednesday we go to the trails in Palos and do some kind of threshold workout. Thursdays are 4-6 miles and yoga. Fridays are recovery days which we still run 3-4 miles and Saturday are meets. So everyday is different and may take up more or less time than the day before.
MS: What is your most difficult class this semester? What is your most interesting? And why?
MJ: My most difficult class would have to be Adult Med-Surg. This class involves a lot of my time studying and preparing for lecture. There is also a clinical that goes along with this class which I have on Thursdays from 2-9pm but sometimes we don’t get out till 10. My most interesting class is Substance Abuse. We talk about addiction to alcohol and drugs.
MS: Do you have any interesting pre-race rituals/superstitions?
MJ: The night before a meet I have to eat pasta. On the way to meets I like to listen to music and relax till we warm-up.
MS: What do you like best about SXU athletics?
MJ: I like that all of the other athletics from different teams try to support one another. Although cross country is the most underappreciated sport, we take to make it out to other sporting events.

Thanks Mandy, next week I will be talking to Erin Hannemann of the women’s basketball team.

Stay classy, Cougars!

Mark Siefert is a senior social science major from Crest Hill. He is a member of the baseball team.Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.