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Interview with Skyler Flora-Truckee HSPublished by
Patrick Flora Photo
Runnerspace.com/NV Interview Skyler Flora, Truckee, HS
This was an e-mail interview conducted by Runnerspace’s John Dixon with Truckee senior Skyler Flora as she prepares for the State XC Championship Meet. Skyler recently won the Northern D1-A Regional Championship for the 3rd straight year leading her team to the Northern Regional title in each year. She will be running for her 2nd State D1-A individual championship and Truckee will be going for their 3 straight team championship.
1. First of all...congratulations on another great xc season. Did the season go as expected? “Thank you! My season went pretty much as expected with a few pr’s and some high finishes in competitive meets. Also I accomplished my individual and team goal of defending our regional titles. Overall it was a very good season and I hope to continue it through state and post season.”
2. Tell us about your teammates...do you do a lot together when you’re not training? “My team mates are definitely some of my closest friends and we do a lot together outside of practice. With such a small team we have become really close over the last two years, even though it is a very young team for the most part, and spend much of our time not at training either tie dying t-shirts together or just hanging out with each other. They are a really great group of talented girls.”
3. Who is in "Team Skyler"...your support system? Coaches, parents, teammates, others? “My parents are my biggest supporters with both of them coming to all the races that they can make and even traveling long distances to catch the races. They have always supported my goals for running, even if that meant flying all the way across the country for post season races. My coaches and team mates are also a big part of my support system with them always cheering throughout the race or constantly motivating me to do my best. One of the most supportive people for me throughout my running career has been my team mate and friend Gabrielle Rinne, who has always been a great training partner and competition to push me but also someone who I can rely on for advice. ”
4. Tell us about the Regional race? Close team battle with Spring Creek....1 point victory. “The Regional race was exciting for our team as it did come down to a one point victory over Spring Creek. All of our girls ran really well and pushed themselves hard after a good week of training and on a fairly slow and wet course. Our goal was to run as a team, rather than as individuals and I think we accomplished this.”
5. Have you a list of colleges that you're looking at? Who has contacted you? Do you want to stay close to home or are you looking at going away? “After looking at multiple schools across the country over the last few months I have verbally committed to run track and cross country at University of California, Berkeley next year.”
6. What type of preparation are you doing this week leading up to State? “Leading up to state this week I have been tapering down my training a little bit so that I will have fresh legs to run well at state as well as mentally preparing with visualizing the course and how my race will go.”
7. You've never run on the Sunset Park course. It's flat, no hills like where you train and race in Nevada. How to you see the State race going? “I see the State race going really well for both myself and our team. Coming down from altitude and having fresh legs I think will both benefit us greatly in the long run and I see our team doing great things at the State meet. Since this course is very different from many of our meets and courses I think that it will produce some very fast times for our team and me individually.”
8. Any post season plans...Footlocker, NIKE NXN, JO's? “For the post season I plan on attending the NXN Southwest qualifier with our varsity team and potentially the national meet.”
9. When do you get involved in running? Who inspired you? “I became involved in running when I was 11 years old and in 6th grade at the local middle school. I hadn’t really planned on joining the cross country team but my current team mate Gabrielle Rinne started doing it and convinced me that I should start running too.”
Favorite Workout: 7x 1 Mile at threshold pace Favorite Race Course: Rancho San Rafael, Reno (Regional/State Course) Favorite Season: Training-XC/Racing-Track Favorite Track/XC Website: Runnerspace (of course!) Running Role Model: Jenny Simpson Career Goals: Run in college/Qualify for NCAA’s Training Shoes: New Balance Racing Flats: Nike Night before race meal: Spaghetti or any type of pasta More news |
