rewritten their college’s record books and have forever redefined the possibilities for Seawolves athletes. Lucy is the holder of or contributor to five different school indoor records, including the 1000m, mile, 3000m, 4×800m, and the distance medley relay. Additionally, she was the first Stony Brook athlete to ever compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships, first in 2009. She was the runner-up in the 1500 at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships behind Villanova’s Sheila Reid. Finishing her final season of cross country in 2010, Van Dalen was sixth overall (with Holly a step behind in seventh), earning her first All-American award in the sport while leading her team to a seventh-place team finish ahead of cross country powerhouses Providence, Syracuse, and Oregon.Van Dalen has been announced as part of a stacked women’s field at the 105thMillrose Games (http://www.armorytrack.com/Meet/50/The-Millrose-Games-at-The-Armory) on February 11. While competing in the NYRR Wanamaker Women’s Metric Mile (1500m), she may also snag the NCAA collegiate record of 4:10.2, set by Clemson’s Tina Krebs in 1985. Van Dalen has an outdoor best of 4:11.59 for the distance.
You chose to get your NCAA Indoor auto-qualifiers out of the way early this year, earning both in December (mile, 4:36.90, at Yale on December 4; 3000 meters 9:07.48, at Harvard on December 10). What went into that decision?
Lucy Van Dalen: Well, during the cross country season, because I wasn’t racing, my coach and I decided that we would just focus on qualifying for the 3000m at the end of the semester before I went home to New Zealand over Christmas. So, it was a good motivator for training. And then just before I was going to race the 3k, we decided that I would jump in a mile just to get the legs rolling. I was really stoked to get the mile time, as well. I think that it was a lot of hard training. It just worked out that I could run that time, and then I raced the 3k a week later and got that time, as well. So it was really nice to have those times out of the way, and to be able to come back to the semester really ready to race, instead of focusing on getting times.
For your training, was there a return to base mileage over the holidays, or were you hitting workouts back home?
LVD: Well, before I ran the 3k and the mile before I went home, I was pretty much just doing tempos and longer stuff, so I hadn’t really hit the track that much—I think I did one or two track workouts before those races. So pretty much, I went home and started doing track workouts because we were just starting like we would any other season for indoors. So, yeah, we pretty much just started earlier racing, but track workouts, I just started like any other year.
So then this fall was just base mileage, as you spent most of the summer of 2011 racing in Europe?
LVD: Yeah, I had down time after Europe, and then just started up doing about 60, 65 miles a week. It was quite a lot of mileage and arduous training, but it was awesome to be able to race at the end of it and get those times. It was all really worthwhile.
One of the big storylines in the Millrose Games is your attempt at the collegiate metric mile record. What are your thoughts on it?
LVD: I’m going into the Millrose Games focusing on just racing against the women and racing to the line, and being aggressive—like I’m sure all of them will be. And if the time comes along with that, then that’d be really exciting, but it will just be an amazing experience to go out and race. I’ll be excited to get a fast time, but that comes with good races that are very competitive, so we’ll see what happens (laughs).
Well, let me read you some of the names you’ll be facing: 2011 USA Indoor Championships mile bronze-medalist Gabriele Anderson, last year’s Payton Jordan and Mt. SAC Relays 1500m winner Katie Follett, and 2009 World Championships 1500m bronze-medalist Shannon Rowbury. Oh, and 2011 World Championships 1500m gold medalist Jenny Simpson. (For complete list, see http://www.armorytrack.com/armory/2012-millrose-games-fields/#30) What are your thoughts on the women that you’ll be competing against?
LVD: Well, I feel really honored to be able to line up against those women. It definitely is a very talented field. In Europe this past summer, I raced against some of those girls. It will be exciting to see them all again, and yeah, it’s quite amazing to be in a race with the world champion. I’m quite excited.
Last year you were the runner-up in the NCAA Championships to Sheila Reid. It can’t seem like there would be any other goal this year outdoors besides the overall win, but would that be inaccurate? Do you look at things as either wins or losses, or do you have other goals this year?
LVD: Definitely a national title is something that I’ve always aimed for, and I guess my last season is the season to do it. But there are amazingly talented women whom I line up against, and usually it comes down to who’s best on the day. So, yeah, I’m really excited about the outdoor season and running the 1500m, and it would be cool to run fast times as well. But definitely my goal would be to get a national title. Once again, (laughs) you just have to see how it all turns out. Running is quite unpredictable.
You’ve had quite a bit of success running cross country as well. Did you miss that cross-country strength that you would have gotten in the fall, or the team aspect with the other girls?
LVD: Well, after Europe, my coach and I decided we’d just train as if we were training for a cross-country season, and that’s pretty much what I did during the fall. My tempos were faster than the previous year, and just building up like that, so I feel like it’s been quite similar—it’s just I didn’t have the cross-country races like the other girls did who had eligibility.
Did you miss the cross-country racing?
LVD: Um…no (laughs). I mean, I’m a track runner. I love track, and I really enjoyed my last cross-country season, but I feel like I ended on a good note, so I was fine with not racing. And I had this goal of competing indoors at the end of my training period, so, yeah, it was okay. I had my four years (of cross country), so, yeah, it was fine (laughs).
This is your last semester at Stony Brook. From what I counted up, you hold or are a part of ten different school records at this point. What else is there to add to your legacy?
LVD: Definitely a national title would be my ultimate goal, but I feel like I’m quite happy with how my career at Stony Brook has gone, and it definitely is a tribute to Andy’s (SBU Head Coach Ronan's) coaching. But I just hope to improve this season indoors and outdoors, and if I do, then I’ll be really happy.
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