EDWARDSVILLE - Former Edwardsville High School cross country and track distance runner Zach Walters is making the transition from high school to college cross country and track very smoothly as a freshman at SIU-Edwardsville. In fact, Walters ran his first-ever collegiate cross country meet on Jan. 23 in the Redhawk Invitational at Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, and did well, with a time of 26:10.6 for 8,000 meters.
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At first, Walters wasn't sure if he would even attend SIUE, much less compete again after not having ran for the Tigers in the 2020 season, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Now, he's glad to be running again, and everything has gone well for him so far.
"Things are pretty good," Walters said in a recent phone interview. "It was kind of an offhand thing. I wasn't sure I was going to SIUE, and I wasn't sure if I was going to run in college. I was a little indecisive about it until the end of the track season. Now I'm glad that I'm running, and with guys that have the same kind of goals that I do."
In fact, not being able to have a track season at Edwardsville High in 2020 may very well helped Walter's transition into collegiate running that much smoother.
"Last year, it was kind of beneficial, and not really," Walters said. "I was able to transition into collegiate running a bit easier, and I was able to train and find out what college running's all about. But at the same time, I wanted to race."
So far, Walters has enjoyed being a member of the Cougars' team, which includes former Tigers' teammate Roland Prenzler, along with Roxana runner Cree Stumpf. The most important part is that he got to compete in a race, and did well.
"It's been really fun, I think," Walters said. "and I've finally gotten to race. They're having a mixed season of cross country and track, and I wasn't sure if I was going to miss in the training at first. But it seems to be going really well, now."
Walters' goals for his freshman season are very simple and almost right to the point.
"I want to do good in every distance that I can," Walters said, "run fast times and be competitive."
Along with every other runner on both the Cougars and in the nation, Walters is very grateful to have a season with all the problems that the pandemic has caused for everyone.
"That's definitely true," Walters said. "I'm hoping that we can all have fun competing for the team, and we can accomplish our personal goals. And hope we all made something good of our situation."
Walters is very optimistic about the Cougars' potential this season, both on and off both the courses and track.
"I think the team, if we all continue to do what we're doing, we'll all continue to make progress," Walters said, "and improve as people as well."
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