Utah Utes runner Josefine Eriksen competes in NCAA West Regionals. She shall be competing this week within the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon. Wesley Hitt, College of Utah Athletics
Though she simply broke the College of Utah college report within the girls’s 800 meters, sophomore Josefine Eriksen considers herself an underdog within the occasion on the NCAA Outside Observe and Area Championships this week in Eugene, Oregon.
“I believe we are able to shock some folks at nationals,” Eriksen instructed the Deseret Information final week, referring to herself and senior teammate Cara Woolnough, who certified within the 5,000 meters.
Regardless of the case, it's a historic taking place for the ladies of Utah, who're sending a number of people to the nationwide finals being held this yr on the reimagined Hayward Area in Eugene for the primary time since 2012.
Woolnough posted a run of quarter-hour, 50.8 seconds within the 5,000 just a few weeks in the past on the West area preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas, whereas Eriksen was second in her warmth and third general with a school-record run of two:02.49 within the 400.
“That's superior to be going as teammates,” stated Eriksen, who's wrapping up her first yr on the U.
“It's so cool as a result of the College of Utah has been checked out as an underdog, however we've got actually good athletes. … I don’t suppose persons are taking note of the College of Utah. I believe we are able to do a extremely good job there.”
Woolnough was featured in a Deseret Information article final month as a result of she graduated in biomedical engineering with a 4.0 grade level common.
The run in Arkansas marked the primary time in six years that Eriksen had damaged a private report.
“Simply working arduous, listening to coaches and being affected person (was the important thing),” she stated. “It's actually about endurance and believing in what coach does.
“So yeah, work arduous day-after-day and issues work out.”
Eriksen broke the varsity report set by Bountiful’s Rosalie Waller — a former walk-on — in 2014. Waller ran 2:03.27 within the Pac-12 championships eight years in the past.
Breaking college data is nothing new for Eriksen, who grew up in Norway and spent her first yr of faculty on the College of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
She had a strong freshman season for the Vaqueros, successful two particular person occasions and a silver medal on the WAC Championships, however her coach give up and he or she determined to enter the switch portal looking for a much bigger college to attend.
“Utah simply regarded very nice, with all the character and all the things,” she stated. “The campus regarded nice and in addition I used to be my teammates’ occasions, and so they had been fairly good.
“I used to be additionally their Instagram pages, and it regarded just like the group was actually humorous and group. That’s why I selected Utah.”
Rising up in Stavern, a small city in Norway, Eriksen started studying to talk English in elementary college.
She started working with an company that locations prime overseas athletics in American universities her senior yr and settled on the varsity in Texas as a result of she wished a hotter local weather.
“I used to be actually bored with the chilly in Norway,” she stated. “Competing within the states and going to high school right here was one thing I believed could be cool, simply an journey.
“I didn’t wish to say ‘what if,’ so I made the choice and I'm glad I did.”
Below the route of former Oregon standout Rebecca Rhodes, employed by Utah final November, Eriksen broke Utah’s data within the 200 (24.24), 400 (54.01) and 600 (1:28.27) within the indoor season final winter.
Satirically, she went into the preliminaries pondering her finest shot at qualifying for nationals was within the 400, not the 800.
“That was actually stunning, as a result of I believed I used to be going to set the report within the 400, not the 800,” she stated of the meet, “as a result of principally I'm a 400 runner.
“It looks like I have to run extra of the 800 any further.”
After nationals, Eriksen will return to Norway and compete for her nation within the Norwegian Championships and European Championships as a part of her nation’s 4x400 relay group.
“I'm actually excited. I'm actually motivated for nationals. I actually need a medal. That will be sick,” she stated.
“Additionally, it's just like the final meet within the States, and I'm kinda like completely happy to be completed as a result of I'm drained.”
The 800 is a grueling, tough distance infamous for being in that center floor between distance working and sprinting.
It takes a particular type of athlete to deal with it, Eriksen says, crediting Rhodes for devising some “tremendous arduous” exercises to get her prepared.
Some runs within the mountains above campus had been particularly taxing.
“I don’t actually really feel the altitude that a lot anymore,” Eriksen stated. “I keep in mind the primary week I received to Salt Lake, and I used to be attempting to have a jog, and it felt like I used to be in actually dangerous form as a result of I couldn’t breathe.
“Now I don’t really feel it that a lot.”
Though homesickness has a few of her buddies, she hasn’t felt it that a lot as a result of she talks to her dad and mom and boyfriend, Cornelius, virtually day-after-day through phone.
Does her boyfriend run as nicely?
Uh, no.
“I can beat him for positive,” she stated. “He’s not quick. I can do this in my sleep, beat him.”
As a result of the Pac-12 championships had been held at Hayward Area, Eriksen and Woolnough are acquainted with the venue and able to present the world what they've, Eriksen stated.
“It's a huge, huge stadium,” she stated. “I'm not petrified of that. Some folks could be afraid of massive stadiums, however I've competed there earlier than. I believe that could be a good factor for nationals.”
Even for the supposed underdogs.