Cardinal Character: Liz Wheatley ’09

I sat down with cross country star Liz Wheatley on a sunny morning in Usdan, and we talked about everything from hobbits to running to “Project Runway.”

Drew Hudson: How have you adjusted to being, as a senior, one of the leaders of the cross country team this year?

Liz Wheatley: It’s definitely different, since I haven’t really had a good cross country season before, and I never ran cross country in high school. But I’ve been getting a lot of help from my co-captain, Ravenna [Neville ’10].

DH: You didn’t run cross country in high school? Did you play any sports before Wes?

LW: I played field hockey in the fall, but I did run track, indoor and outdoor. I actually did the 600 meters, 800 and the mile, so I didn’t do any long distance stuff.

DH: The team is made up of only nine runners, and about half of those are newcomers this year. What do you think of the freshmen? How have they been doing so far?

LW: They all seem to be progressing, so it’s pretty exciting. Tess [Crain ’12] had an especially good race last weekend, so that was really exciting to see.

DH: You won your first race this year, with a field of 95, and in your second race, came in 40th out of 301. How have you been able to be so successful this early in the season?

LW: It’s largely in part to the training I did this summer. I definitely trained really hard, and I’ve also been a lot better about getting sleep this year than last year.

DH: Keeping all that in mind, what are your expectations for the team this year?

LW: Well, the goal for the team is always, ultimately, to go to nationals; that would just be really awesome. If not that, then just to have a really solid showing at regionals and show people that Wesleyan is legitimate.

DH: What about the men’s team? Do you train with them?

LW: We all meet at the same time and place for practice, so in that sense, we do have practice with them, but we don’t go on runs with them. We definitely, because of that, have a really close relationship between the men’s and women’s teams.

DH: What about Wes made you decide to come here?

LW: Originally, I came to school wanting to study astronomy, and I also wanted to go to a smallish liberal arts school in New England, and when I visited Wesleyan, I just liked it better than the other schools I visited.

DH: What are your interests or hobbies besides running?

LW: Well, I am a studio art major, so I spend a lot of time in the CFA, painting. I also like dabbling in the piano [Laughs].

DH: Do you have a favorite movie or TV show?

LW: I haven’t really been watching a lot of TV since I’ve been at school, which is good. They took away our cable, of course. But I do manage to watch “Project Runway;” it’s the one that I watch via YouTube, usually at the end of the week, when I have time to watch it [Laughs].

DH: Do you have any pets?

LW: I have two cats at home, named Merry and Pippin, after the hobbits from “Lord of the Rings.”

DH: As a studio art major, do you have any plans for what you’re going to do after school?

LW: Well, interestingly, I came to school wanting to be an astronomy major, then I decided to go on the chemistry track, but I was a late start major, so I wasn’t able to finish chemistry. But I have a fair amount of chemistry courses, and I’m actually taking molecular dynamics right now, so that’s something I might be doing after college, is looking into some M.D. programming, or possibly some art, who knows [Laughs].

DH: Is there anything you want to make sure people know about the women’s cross country team?

LW: I do want to say that I think the team dynamic this year is really strong, and we have a really close team, which I’m really thankful for. I also have to shout out to Ravenna [Neville ’10], because she’s my co-captain, and we’ve really been pulling each other along a lot during the season. In workouts, she really pulls me along, and by the end of the season, we hope to be right up there together at the front of the region. She was here this summer training also, so we both kept each other focused.

DH: What is in the team’s immediate future?

LW: Our next meet is not this coming weekend, but next weekend, and that’s the Little Three race, and then we have NESCACs after that. Then there are ECACs [Eastern College Athletic Conference], which is a JV race, and then after that are regionals, and the top three or so teams in the region go to nationals, and a certain number of individual qualifiers.

DH: In the spirit of homecoming weekend, do you have any alumni runner friends coming to visit?

LW: Hopefully, I hope they come back. They’ve come back a couple times this year, but it’s tough because some of them have real jobs [laughs] or are off at law school. A lot of alums came to the alumni race, which was great. It was really good to see everyone.