Olympian Michael Stember, in a Let's Run (link on sidebar) interview - bold font is my edit:
I played soccer at a top competitive level for 15 years and was a starting point guard at Jesuit. I could dunk a basketball my freshman year in High School at 5'9". (Jesuit sports teams are often ranked in the top 5 nationally, so the athletic environment was a hotbed for fierce competition. Our soccer team is currently ranked #1 in the US.) So running track was tertiary, and it took some lobbying by our athletic department and Coach Lange to convince me that I should dump other sports I knew I could compete in at the college level to pursue the nerdiest endeavor of them all - Cross Country. Not only was it the nerdiest gig on one of the most talented sports campuses in the country but it proved to be the most difficult, a true test of will and pain tolerance, without the luxury of the stadium, the gym, the crowds, or the cheerleaders. It proved to be the best decision I ever made athletically, setting up a record breaking 4:04 1,600-meter State Championship 8 months later, earning me a full scholarship to Stanford, but never assume that running a fast mile for a speedy athlete translates to a fast 5k.
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