(Photo by Austin Heppler)
After placing in the top-20 in two meets this season, junior Tim Freriks has an optimistic mindset for the rest of the year. Freriks sat down with The Lumberjack to discuss goals, a typical practice day, mileage and his mentors.
The Lumberjack: You’re a runner on the cross-country team — what’s a typical practice like for the team?
Tim Freriks: This season, my mileage has been a lot higher, so I’m running like a 100 miles a week. We’ll get to practice, and we will run through some drills and some form stuff. We will go for a run, usually [during] the week we have two hard workouts and the rest of the days are mileage. I’ll go for a 12-mile run or like a five-mile run in the morning to get my mileage in.
LJ: Is it required of you to run that many miles a week?
TF: No, everyone does different stuff. I was more of a strength runner in high school; endurance is kind of my thing, and so coach and I are building on that. There’s a handful of us running that much, but a lot of the other guys are in between.
LJ: You’re majoring in exercise science, what do you plan on doing with that?
TF: I’m not sure, but I am considering coaching at the NCAA level, maybe going into the Physician’s Assistant field. But like I said, I’m not sure; I kind of need to make up my mind as I am trying to go to grad school.
LJ: What was the experience like, making two NCAA appearances?
TF: Oh, it was great. At Nationals last year, the intensity on the starting line [is something] you can’t find anywhere else . . . the mental and physical toughness you have to have to make it through the race, it is a really cool, unique experience.
LJ: What’s your mentality been like the past few weeks?
TF: Basically the mentality is to train [and] train hard. It’s not so much focused on the race; it’s the meets at the end of the season that matter. To do well in those meets, you can’t be tapering off for each meet early in the season. Just getting a solid block of training in, running those miles I was talking about earlier and setting myself up for the rest of the season.
LJ: Do you have any personal goals for yourself for the season?
TF: The huge goal is to become an All-American. It’s a huge goal. Top 40 in NCAAs, I was about a hundred spots off for that . . . I think some of my workouts and some of the things shown in training just show I could be right on the cusp for that 40th finish. It would take a really good day to really grind through that race, but that’s the goal. Other than that, score as many points for my team and try and get us on the podium.
LJ: You considered UP [University of Portland] and ASU, but ultimately you chose here. What made you choose NAU?
TF: I am from a small town — Cottonwood, Ariz. — and just coming here wasn’t like any other school in Arizona. Basically [the offer at] University of Portland was there, but I kind of knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to stay in state. Just the appeal of the high altitude up here and the resource we have of training, the endless trails we have here in Flagstaff and the way the training program is structured played to my strengths and how it is more [a] strength-based program played in my favor. I figured I don’t need to go very far to get that. Coming to NAU, it was what I wanted to do.
LJ: From an athlete’s standpoint, there have been a lot of teammates, mentors and coaches that have influenced you as a player. Out of all of them in the past or present, who has influenced you the most in your career, or as a person?
TF: There are two big ones. One of which was my high school coach. He really influenced the mentality that I have now, working hard and grinding through it. And also Jason Peterson; he’s a graduate assistant coach for us now. His mentality and work ethic is like second to none. He was running 110 miles a week, he ate right, slept well, [and was a] straight-A student in mechanical engineering, so it was a template I wanted to follow. He did it right and it paid off, so I want to do the same thing.
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