Breaking the limit

Thursday, 5/29/97 Breaking the limit W. TRACK: Kechris’
perseverance will help team in championships

By Donald Morrison Daily Bruin Contributor Hard work and
determination are qualities that distance runner Katherina Kechris
brings out to the track when she runs. It is these qualities that
have helped Kechris qualify for her first ever NCAA Championships
in June. However, Kechris is not just satisfied with qualifying,
but is determined to end her track and field career by helping her
team win a national title. At the Pacific 10 Championships, Kechris
placed a personal-best third in both the 3000- and 5000-meter runs,
running 9-minutes, 24.22-seconds in the 3000 meters and running a
personal best of 16:24.84 in the 5000 meters. This season, her hard
work has paid off as she has set personal records in the 800-,
1500-, 3000- and 5000-meter runs. Now Kechris is ready for the NCAA
Championships in Bloomington, Ind. "It’s been the major focus of
the season," Kechris said of going to the NCAA Championships. "I’m
in the best shape of my life. It’s now or never." Distance coach
Eric Peterson, who has coached Kechris for four years at UCLA in
cross country and track, believes that Kechris now has a very good
chance of scoring at the NCAA Championships in the 3000 meters.
"Emotionally and psychologically she’s right on," Peterson said.
"She’s in the greatest shape of her life and that combination is
helping her come to the track each day with the attitude that she
wants to improve and get better each day and she seems to be."
Kechris’ determination to improve race after race has placed her at
14th in the nation in the 3000 meters and seventh all-time at UCLA
with a personal best time of 9:23.18. She is also the No. 1
distance runner on the team. Head coach Jeanette Bolden feels that
Kechris has been able to gain a lot of confidence with her track
performances. "It’s like a snowball effect," Bolden said,
describing Kechris’ improvement. "You do well at a meet and you get
more confidence and you do well at the next meet and you get even
more confidence." Her desire to improve has helped her get better
each year. As a sophomore, Kechris ran a time of 9:55.6 in the 3000
meters, good enough for fourth-best on the team, before improving
that time to 9:49.56 her junior year. Now, as a senior, Kechris has
already bettered her time in the 3000 meters by 26 seconds. Cross
country has been no different. As a redshirt sophomore she placed
41st at the Pac-10 meet before moving up 12 places this past fall
as a junior to finish 29th in the Pac-10 and third on the UCLA
squad. Kechris does not credit herself for her recent success. She
credits her teammates, especially freshman Kim Mortensen, for
pushing her to run faster and harder. Mortensen is redshirting this
year but still trains with Kechris and the team. "Some of my
teammates are Olympians," Kechris said, referring to teammates Amy
Acuff, Nada Kawar and Suzy Powell. "Even though they’re jumpers and
throwers, it’s being around that that has been a big influence on
me." Improvement of her times is not the only thing that has
propelled Kechris to the top of UCLA’s distance runners. Her mental
outlook has changed throughout her career and she is still learning
how to run. Kechris said she has learned to "not (put) limits on
what I can do. I’ve tended to always do that in the past. I’m still
learning to be more stable mentally too. I used to worry about it
(race performance) too much. The more I think about it the worse I
do. I guess it’s part of this year’s learning experience. I still
need to work on just running and not thinking about it. You don’t
know how a race is going to be when the gun goes off. You can’t
plan for it." What Kechris plans to do is help her team at the NCAA
Championships. "That’s my major goal," Kechris said. "I think this
is the year where I’m most capable of doing that." Kechris is also
a capable distance team captain, an honor that’s been bestowed upon
her for two track seasons and last fall’s cross-country season.
Peterson described Kechris not as a vocal leader but a quiet leader
who leads by example. "She’s a great leader because she’s always at
practice and always on time for practice," Peterson said. "She
works as hard if not harder than anyone on the distance team. The
younger people are intelligent enough to see that she is the top
athlete in the (distance) program right now and the reason is
because of the way she works." "It just shows that with hard work
and persistence you can achieve anything," Bolden said. The one
thing that she still has to do, Peterson said, is to finish the job
she has started. Kechris, Peterson feels, still needs to perform at
the right time and he wants to see her excel in Bloomington. "The
challenge is whether or not she can approach those championship
meets and get the most out of herself," Peterson said. PATRICK
LAM/Daily Bruin Katherina Kechris has shown incredible
determination, in her senior season alone, she improved her time in
the 3000 meters by 26 seconds. Previous Daily Bruin Stories:
Women’s track to defend title