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First-year Morgane Gay raced in her first collegiate race this past weekend at the George Mason Invitational and finished second, runner-up to only teammate Lauretta Dezubay. The Cavaliers won the meet and will take two-consecutive team titles into their next competition, the Pre-NCAA Meet, on Saturday, Oct. 18 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Question: You ran your first race as a Cavalier last weekend and finished second at the George Mason Invitational. How did you feel during the race?
Gay: I had a really good experience at the race on Saturday, running in my first 6k. It was a lot of fun and I felt proud to be representing the University of Virginia. It was strange running a different length than I was used to, but I really enjoyed my first race in uniform. I am really excited about our team and how we did as a whole. We have an awesome group of girls, and I am proud to be running beside them.
Question: Racing in Fairfax, Va., which is close to home for you, did you have a lot of fans at the meet?
Gay: I actually live about a half an hour from the course, but we never went to this race in high school. My parents were able to come down to watch and I was really happy to be able to see them there. This was the first time they were able to watch me race in a collegiate setting and I think they enjoyed it as well. I was also surprised that my high school coach was able to come down to watch. I didn’t even know he was there until I heard him yelling during the race, and it was really encouraging to hear that familiar voice cheering.
Question: What is the biggest difference between racing a high school course and one in college?
Gay: There is surprisingly little difference between high school and college races. Besides the increase in length from a 5k to a 6k, the biggest difference is probably college races being more compact. There are just so many phenomenal runners out there and the girls seem to be much closer in level. It is great to be able to look around and immediately see someone on your team to run with. I love this new aspect because it is encouraging to run with someone you train with everyday and be able to work together to do the best for your team.
Question: How intense are your training sessions and what have you learned the most so far from your freshman year?
Gay: Training sessions are pretty intense, yet also controlled. The one thing that I have learned since I have been here is the idea of patience. In high school, it was easy to put too much into one workout and not be able to recover for the next. It feels a lot better to maintain steady training and to get a little better each day.
Question: How do you like to spend your free time when you’re away from practice and competition? Are you adapting to life in Charlottesville?
Gay: In my free time there is a lot of school work to be done, but I also love to hang out with my teammates outside of practice. The upper classmen are really good about organizing things for us to do and they have done a really good job of bonding the team together. I don’t think I can fully express how happy I am to have chosen this school; I love everything about Charlottesville, and I have been able to adapt really well so far.