In Play(er) of the Week, our goal is to highlight outstanding athletes or moments from games that deserve extra attention.

Liam Calhoun ’26 is one of the Wesleyan men’s cross country team’s top runners this season. He recently received his first career All-NESCAC honors for his performance at the NESCAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2, where he finished 12th in a field of 162 runners. A week later, Calhoun finished 19th at the NCAA Mid-East Regional, earning his second career All-Region and All-New England honors. Wesleyan finished fourth among all teams at regionals, sealing an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship Meet in Terre Haute, Ind. The Cardinals will travel to Indiana this upcoming weekend for the first time since 2016. The Argus recently sat down with Calhoun to talk about his approach to running and his preparation for nationals.

A: When did you first start running cross country? 

LC: I played soccer up and through my sophomore year of high school, and I decided to switch to cross country that year. It was a little later than most people, but I just I decided my sophomore year that I wanted to go all in on running and see what I could do with that. And then my junior and senior year, I wasn’t really aware that I was recruitable to college at that point, because I didn’t know enough about the process. But I realized I liked running a lot. And then my senior year, once I did more research [and] was like, “Oh, I can run collegiately,” I found Wesleyan. 

A: What do you love about running? Why have you stuck with it?

LC: I like that I feel like I have a lot of control over my performance. I feel like if I put in the work and I do the little things right, that I can see it translate to success. Even though you are counting on other people, because there is a team aspect to cross country, as a runner yourself, the individualism of it is a lot [of] just counting on yourself and making sure you did the work and holding yourself accountable. So if I do the work, I usually run pretty well, and I like that it’s a very straight[forward] process.

A: How do you reconcile the individual aspect of running with the team nature of it?

LC: Usually I have always thought of running as an individual sport, because in high school, I was the only person who really bought into the culture and the training and liked it. And then when I came to college, we were kind of rebuilding my freshman year, and I still felt that even in cross country, I was there as an individual and not as a team, because we weren’t winning meets. We were there, but we weren’t really doing anything special. So I just kind of felt like an individual. And in track, it’s a lot more individual than cross country, because there’s no team scores. I guess there are, but it’s not just seven long-distance runners; it’s the whole team. But I think the only time that it’s changed from an individual to a team aspect is this year, because all of a sudden we’re winning these meets, and we’re scoring up there at all these invitationals, and so this is the first time in my life I’ve seen cross country as a team sport.

A: What’s changed this year? What makes this year special?

LC: I think we were a really young team the last two years, because we had a coaching change three years ago, and my grade was freshmen, and there were a lot of us. And I think my grade was the start of a change in the program, but it wasn’t reflected in the results until now. Because we needed two years to get there, because we’re older now, the training is finally paying off. But running takes a while to develop and to change your body. 

A: How have you dealt with some of the challenges of being a student athlete at Wesleyan?

LC: I think the biggest challenge I’ve faced is I’ve been injured a couple times in my collegiate career. And when you’re injured, you think, “Oh, I’m not running, so I’ll have more time to focus on school and stuff,” but I feel like it’s the exact opposite. You’re more stressed because you’re trying to figure out a way to get back to being healthy. So you’re doing PT [physical therapy] and you’re still going to normal practice, and maybe you’re biking instead of running, but then you’re doing PT throughout the day, and it’s actually harder to keep up with schoolwork. And then I feel like generally, yeah, of course, it’s an academically rigorous school. You have to stay on top of your work and stuff. But our team [has] a very regimented culture about practice, and then we go to Exley for two to three hours every night and we do the work. Because it’s only going to make it more stressful in the end, if we are lazy in the beginning and don’t do the work and save it ’til the end. So I think our team is a good culture for that.

A: Coming into the season, what were some of your goals for yourself?

LC: I’ve never been great at cross country compared to track. I don’t really know why. Some people are better on grass than the track surface, and some people aren’t. And even in high school, I just wasn’t as good on the grass. So my main goal coming into this season is I wanted to just try to change that for myself and how people see me. I don’t want them to see me as, “Oh, this kid’s good on the track, but not great on grass.” So, like, concrete goals, I wanted to be All-NESCAC, like I was, and All-Region. But more importantly, I wanted to make it to nationals as an individual and do well. I’m also fixated on a time goal, too. I run around 25 minutes. Like, 25:02, 25:05, 25:07. I, for some reason, cannot seem to get under 25. And other guys on my team—Alex Kermath [’26], he’s a guy who is a really good runner, but he broke 25 just one time. His PR was close, but he just did it, and there was no issue. And I just decided that it’s going to be a barrier for me, which is fun. So I’m going to try to get under that at nationals. But I think if I can break 25 at Nationals, then I’ve completed a good season that I can be proud of.

A: What’s a favorite memory from your time with Wesleyan cross country so far?

LC: That’s really tough, because there’s been so many. Oh, man. I would say it was going to the [NCAA Pre-National Championship] in October. We went to Indiana, the first time I’ve taken a plane for a cross-country meet. And so it was a four-day thing, and we were all very sleep deprived. And it kind of felt like one continuous day. We were at Usdan breakfast and then we got on the plane, and then by the time we got back, we were at a different Usdan brunch, but it felt like the same day. Yeah, that whole trip. Nothing really—I mean, there were specific things, but everything together was just funny. I just feel like I was laughing the entire time. But we also ran well, too. So we were able to be happy before and after. And yeah, sleep deprivation kind of made us all feel like drunk kids for like, three days in front of our coach.

A: What was going through your head during the NESCAC championship race [on Nov. 2], especially after Alex Kermath lost his shoe mid-race?

LC: So NESCACs was the first race of the season I actually feel like I performed well. I don’t know why I didn’t run better in the prior meets, because I was just as fit, but I put the pieces together in NESCACs. I wouldn’t even say that I stepped up; I would say that I finally performed to the level I should have been the whole season. But yeah, Alex and I—he’s one of those guys that’s always good on the grass, like, you can always count on him in cross. And so I knew going into the race that I was gonna stay with him from the gun, and if I felt good, I would go later on in the race and pick it up and see what happened. I was kind of distracted by how many runners were behind me. I remember being with him at mile one, and then there’s a lot of guys around us, and then I remember seeing him again at mile two, and so I don’t really know what happened between the start of the race and mile two, and obviously, I heard that his shoe came off and he had to take put it back on for a second and sprint back up. Obviously that’s a crazy task to do mid-race when you’re running, like, 15 miles per hour on grass. And I know that he did catch back up to me, and when I eventually separated from him, I realized that something was probably happening, because it’s not normal for me to separate by that much from him, but he was still able to have a really strong finish despite that. So I would say super impressive performance from him, and kind of crazy.

A: So you earned All-NESCAC honors for the first time this season, and All-Region and All-New England honors for the second time in your career. How did it feel to earn All-NESCAC in particular?

LC: This is actually a good question, because we talk about this a lot, that our team cares, maybe, more than the regional meet at NESCACs, because it’s like competing against your siblings versus competing against strangers. And so we do really want to beat them. And I didn’t go into the meet even thinking that All-NESCAC—I mean, I didn’t think it was impossible, but it wasn’t a goal on my mind, because it seemed a little bit elusive. And then once I was in the race, I felt really good from the gun, and I was running in the front of the pack, like top 10, top 15, and I realized at that point that it was mine to lose. And it was big being on All-NESCAC, because I’ve looked up to the guys that are usually on NESCAC for a while, and I’ve seen them get their awards. And so to be one of those guys is good; it makes me feel like I’ve finally earned it. 

A: What was your reaction when you learned that the team had qualified for nationals?

LC: This is also a funny point, because I’m a little bit of a negative person sometimes, and I was the only guy on the team that maybe wasn’t like, “Yeah, we’re going to nationals,” the whole season, that was like, “It’s definitely gonna happen.” I was like, you know, “Let’s see what happens.” And I told some of the guys last week; I was like, “I bet there’s, like, a 50% chance.” Last year I missed nationals by two spots, so I realized last year how hard it actually is to make it and so I wasn’t trying to put down people throughout the season, but I was trying to be realistic. And then at the meet, I crossed the line on Saturday, and I was tired, and one of my teammates came up to me and he was like, “We got fourth, we got fourth,” which means we have an automatic at-large bid to go to nationals. I was like, “Wow, that’s actually crazy.” So when we qualified—we found out definitely [on Sunday]—all the guys were like, “Ha, suck it up, Calhoun, you have to go to nationals.” Like, all this stuff, because I’m usually negative. But I’m still very happy, of course.

A: How are you preparing for nationals? 

LC: Yeah, well, it’s weird because we only have one week. Normally, we have two weeks between races. So race Saturday, and then we’re going to Indiana to race next Saturday. Preparing, we’re kind of doing the same training we have been because it’s clearly been working. We come down in mileage a little bit the last week because we’re trying to be fresher for race day. We’ll do a workout on Wednesday that’s pretty routine—nothing that we can’t handle, nothing that’s gonna make us too tired. But yeah, really just keeping it easy for this week and then trying to peak and feel really good on Saturday.

A: Do you have any pre-race rituals, either individually or as a team?

LC: I’m a big caffeine person. That’s kind of a debate on the team. I like to drink a lot of coffee before I race. I don’t know whether it’s placebo or not, but I like it. I usually always have a bagel with peanut butter and a banana if I can. I think that works. Besides that, I always do a lot of strides before the race starts. Strides are like 10 seconds of 90% sprinting that you would do before the race starts, to try to just get yourself ready. The only other thing I do is I stretch with a rope a lot. Some people do it, some people don’t. I try to stretch really well before I hit my race, but nothing crazy.

A: My last question is whether you run with your hair up or down.

LC: That’s a good question. So usually, I would say 99% of the time, I’m wearing it down. I don’t know. It didn’t bother me [in] high school, it doesn’t bother me now. In the race, I don’t think I’ve ever once thought, like, “Oh, my hair is in my face.” I don’t know why.

A: Do you wear a headband? 

LC: No. I’m just used to it. It’s usually just going back. If I’m running fast enough, it’s going behind me. The only exception was once [in] my freshman year at the regional championship, I wore it up, because it was raining and windy and my hair was wet, so I was whipping myself in the face in the warmup. And I was like, “All right, I have to wear it up.” So I did it there. I don’t notice it when it’s up or down, so that’s why I just leave it down, because it makes no difference.

A: When you put it up, did you have a superstition thing? Did your race change?

LC: I mean, I was definitely thinking about it. Probably not during the race. I ran fine that day, so clearly there’s nothing to do with it. But yeah, it’s funny that you say that. It’s not a superstitious thing. But I like it down. It makes me feel more free. That’s the way I can describe it.

A: Do you have anything else you want to add?

LC: I’m really proud of the guys, and I think they’re the reason, collectively, that we’re doing so well. It’s not one effort, it’s the whole team.

Audrey Nelson can be reached at aanelson@wesleyan.edu.