Nicole Lord always dreamed of a PIAA state medal.
She just had the wrong sport.
It was just your normal gym class. Hook the kids up to a heart rate monitor, and have them run for 16 minutes. Then 20 minutes.
Check the heart rate and let the kids know how they were doing. Too low a rate, and you're not working hard enough.
Lord on her way to All-Conference at the 2009 Big Ten Championships -
Photo courtesy of Mark Selders - Penn State Athletic Communications
Well, swimmer-field hockey player-lacrosse player Nicole Lord of Penncrest High School in Media, PA apparently wasn't getting her heart rate up enough to satisfy gym teacher and Penncrest boys' cross country/track coach George Munro... who knows something about running.
It was the fall of 2008, Lord's senior year. And she says Munro told her he was going to make her do a make-up run - even though she was staying with the the guys and making it look easy.
"I got upset," Lord says as she laughs a bit in telling the story. "I was working my butt off."
So when the opportunity arises a few days later as as the gym class is asked to do a 'mile test', Lord decides she'll show everyone some effort.
She cruises to a 5:15.
Eyes open. Jaws drop. And a runner is born.
She is invited to join the cross country team. "Sorry" she says. "I'm just about to start swimming."
Swimming was her first priority, and first love. She already had her sights set on swimming at the University of Delaware. And if that didn't work out, she was hopeful that her efforts in field hockey and lacrosse would attract some attention - and some financial support.
She also had dreams of a state medal. In swimming, she qualified in AAA in both the 100 Yard Butterfly and the 200 Yard Freestyle. She didn't make the final in either.
So when people started telling her she could be a pretty good runner, she listened. Coach Munro had immediately passed on news of the 5:15 mile to girls' head track coach Mike Clark and assistant John Lohn. Before the spring season started, the two worked out a deal with the lacrosse coach. Lord would practice with the lacrosse team and make all the games. And when the schedule would accommodate, she would run dual meets and Saturday Invitationals in track.
Some days, it was a rush from the game to the meet. But one thing became quickly apparent. The girl was good.
She took 2nd in the Mile at a late March meet, going 5:19. A week later at the Central League Relays, she won the 3200 in 11:14. The announcer at the meet told the crowd it was the fastest time in the state at the time. "That's when I realized I might be able to run in college," Lord said.
A few days later at her school's home Larry Simmons Invitational, she clocked a 2:22 800.
She was beginning to think of the possibilities in this new sport of hers. From a recruiting standpoint for seniors, it was getting late for the most programs.
So Coach Munro took it upon himself to reach out to the cross country/track coach at a school with a Lord-family connection.
Nicole's mom is a Penn State alum. "Nicole grew up on Penn State" says Director of T&F/XC Beth Alford-Sullivan. "To her, the blue and white means a lot."
It's a sentiment Nicole readily acknowledges. "My mom taught me to love Penn State. She never pushed me into it. I just loved it."
Sullivan says that Munro called her before the Penn Relays and said he had an athlete she should meet. "We had finished the recruiting process, so scholarships were gone" says Sullivan.
Lord wasn't running in any event at Penn, but Munro made sure she connected with Coach Sullivan.
"We said hello," relates Sullivan. "I told her that if she was interested in Penn State, to come up and check us out."
Lord's times continued to improve. And Sullivan, along with the University of Tennessee, and others, were taking notice.
The week after Penn, Lord broke 11 for the first time in the 3200 at the Delco Girls Championships, taking first in 10:59. Two weeks later, she really opened eyes with a 5:04-5:03 double in the 1600 prelims and finals over two days of the PIAA District 1 Championships. Right before the Saturday 1600 finals, she won the 3200 in a PR of 10:47.96.
Having qualified for both events for the state meet, she went with the eight-lapper.
Seeded fourth coming into the meet, Coach Sullivan was really impressed. Unable to make the first day of the meet, Sullivan jumped in her car for the drive from State College to Shippensburg on Saturday morning. She would have made Lord's 3200 race too, if it hadn't been for a brief stop and chat with a PA State Policeman on I-81.
The coach and recruit never did connect that day. Lord would finish 4th in 10:48.63. (In PennTrackXC photo to left) But Sullivan got on the phone to invite Lord for a visit. Lord had already been on a visit to the University of Tennessee, but she had always wanted Penn State.
The trip was set by mid-June, and before the day was done, Lord had made her choice.
With no experience in cross country, she was invited to the PSU high school cross country camp during the summer - as a camper.
"I wanted to prove I belonged, but it was kind of intimidating. These girls are so good."
It didn't take long for the top runner on the Penn State team - senior Bridget Franek of Ohio - to take notice. Sullivan had qualified to be a member of the US Team in the 2009 IAAF World Championships in the steeplechase after getting 3rd at the US Trials with a 'A' standard and school record 9:36.74.
Sullivan says that after a run with her future teammate, Franek came to her and said 'I think she is going to be good. I can tell. She is good coach.'
Sullivan reserved judgement.
As for Lord, she started school and her new sport still harboring a bit of self-doubt. Mainly that her new teammates would accept her. "They don't realize how much I looked up to them. I have classes with football players, swimmers... and I did not consider myself that good."
But this is a cross country team. And as Lord would quickly discover, cross country teams are different.
They took her right in, and immediately started to teach her about the sport.
Lesson one was clothes.
No spandex under running shorts. Check.
Lesson two: no lacrosse sweatshirts. "We don't wear that here," she was told. Double check.
Lesson three: just run, and don't worry about who you're ahead of in a race. The point is to be as far toward the front as possible. Triple check.
In workouts, Lord found her teammates exhorting her to push through the pain when she found herself dropping off a bit.
They taught her to just run her race, and beat anyone you see.
And if you have a bad race, 'just blow it off.'
For Lord, it was not just a new sport, it was a new feeling.
"I have never had a closeness like with this team. We each want to see our teammates do well. The team is so unselfish."
Add the blue and white to the mix, and you get a closeness and pride that is rare in sports.
"It's about friendship. Team pride," Lord says.
"I guess it's a cross country thing," she adds.
Her first cross country race was very low-key.
The Dolan Duals at Lock Haven is very down-low. "There were no people. It felt like practice" says Lord.
But it was at about halfway in the 4,000 meter race that Lord realized how hard this sport actually is. "That last mile was painful."
And it was that meet where Lord discovered something about the sport and herself that has helped to shape the rest of her first-ever season on the cross country course. When the race gets tough, she gets tougher. "I just picture myself running down the lacrosse field."
She just follows Franek out on the gun, and gets in a groove for the first half of the race. "I want to get to the part that hurts. That is my favorite part, because that is when I can work hard."
And that's exactly what Coach Sullivan has noticed. "She can endure discomfort. She has that down. Nicole could run through a brick wall."
Some of that love of pain - or absence of the fear of pain - comes from her life as a three-sport star in field hockey, swimming and lacrosse.
"Swimming practice was three hours of work" shares Lord. "Now, an intense workout is 86 minutes, or maybe just an hour."
Her coach also teases her that Lord would have to run as a punishment at field hockey and lacrosse practices. "You must have been really bad."
But Lord has been a quick study. "She has been a sponge," says Sullivan. "She is so coachable, and very responsive in training."
According to Sullivan, that training includes core work every day for every athlete, and no time in the weight room. They split into two groups for runs - and mix the groups on occasion. Lord's mileage in her first season has been in the mid-40's. Some are in the low 50's. And maintenance is all good quality - 7 minute pace for six mile runs.
"Lord never misses a detail," says her coach. "And she has done every step that Franek has done."
If her first races were low-key, the third one was a big step up.
Following a very strong 17:52 9th place (2nd on the team) 5K at the Cappy Anderson Invitational at the site of the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, Lord and her team had two weeks to prepare for the huge Notre Dame Invitational. The meet always attracts top teams from around the country, and is so big, the races are split in two. Lord would finish 39th in a 5K PR of 17:25, and finish 3rd for the team... the same spot she would take two weeks later at the 'home' Penn State National. The meet had to be moved to the ultra flat (but this time, very muddy) Lock Haven course because of weather damage to the Blue & White course in State College. Lord would finish in 15th for the 6K in 21:09.
Photo courtesy of Mark Selders - Penn State Athletic Communications
Two weeks later, it was time for the Big Ten Champs, and Lord's first race on her home course. All she would do is secure a 9th place finish, 2nd on the team in 20:52. With Franek in first, and roommate and fellow freshman Brooklyne Ridder of OH (16th 21:16); sophomore Caitlin Lane of NY (22nd 21:24), and sophomore Kara Millhouse of Boiling Springs, PA (23rd 21:27), rounding out the scoring, Penn State had secured their first-ever Big Ten Championship and their first return to the NCAA Division I Champs since 2003.
The performances helped Franek, Sullivan and Lord sweep the post-season awards as Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Lord also secured 2nd Team All-Conference.
Two weeks later, she repeated the top frosh performance in an even deeper field at the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, getting 14th place and earning All-Region honors. She was joined in that honor by teammate Cheryl Spring of TX, who earned her 3rd All-Region Certificate with a 21st place finish.
The season has been a blur for Lord, who now finds herself on the #11 ranked Division I team in the country, and ready to run her first NCAA Championship race on Monday, November 23rd.
The dream of winning a state medal in swimming is long gone. It has now been replaced by the 'insane' memory of a state medal in track last May... and ever-more special memories in a sport that she never imaged herself doing just over 15 months ago.
"She is rockin' and rollin' " says Sullivan.
As for Lord... she misses those other three sports. "But it's more nostalgia than regret" she quickly interjects.
"I am definitely a runner now."
Photo courtesy of Mark Selders - Penn State Athletic Communications
