Anchorage Daily News

Coming off a knee injury that kept her out of UAA's fall cross-country season, Laura Carr wasn't sure what to expect as a distance runner during the track and field campaign.

The one thing she had going for her -- the big thing all Seawolf athletes have had this winter and spring -- was being able to follow a more complete training regimen at The Dome.

After a slow start to the season -- bad weather at UAA's first two meets in Oregon and Washington hampered performances -- Carr found her stride in the 5-kilometer run at the Stanford Invitational in early April.

"I really surprised myself with my 5-K at Stanford," she said last week as the Seawolves prepared for this weekend's Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet in Washington. "I wanted to go under 17 (minutes), and I was super nervous for it all day long. I didn't think I could actually do it, and then it just happened.

"I was like, 'Oh, OK. I guess I'm running pretty well this season.' "

Good guess.

Carr ran a conference-record 16 minutes, 56.48 seconds to automatically qualify for the NCAA Division II championships.

Less than two weeks later Carr returned to Northern California and broke the school record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 35:41.98, earning an automatic bid to nationals in the process.

"Most of my races have been going pretty well," she said. "I've been having a really great year. I think the reason I'm running well ... is because I was running well last season too. You just keep building."

Michael Friess, UAA's head track and field coach, is less surprised at his junior's successes.

"I'm encouraged, not surprised," he said. "We knew she was fit going into the cross-country season. Unfortunately she had a bit of a knee issue that flared up. We decided to redshirt her.

"We were able to work a lot of rehab and strength exercises. Through her training, her talents continued to show."

Carr's rise to record holder had humble beginnings. Her high school times in Indiana before her family relocated to Anchorage late in her senior year were decent if not eye catching.

But a persistent dedication to training and improving has put her among the best GNAC distance runners.

"There's a lot of athletes with talent that never realized their talent because they're not willing to put the training in," Friess said. "If you're willing to put the training in and you've got the kind of talent that she has, then it's able to show.

"She can run six miles now at a pace that she could run for barely even a mile in high school."

Carr arrived at UAA after a high school career at South Bend, Ind., carried here by what she describes as her father's "wanderlust."

"He likes moving around," Carr said. "About every two years we moved somewhere new. They're already in Seattle now. He just likes to move around.

"Indiana was the longest place we ever stayed somewhere, and he changed jobs in between. That's why we stayed there."

She still had about three months to go before graduating and finished up at Service. Carr contacted Friess about joining the UAA program and quickly signed on with the Seawolves.

"I'd been thinking about going to Grand Valley State (in Allendale, Mich.), or somewhere in the Midwest area," Carr said.

After landing at the UAA campus, Carr experienced her own brand of wanderlust before settling on art as a major.

"It was quite a long journey of trying out a lot of things," she said. "I kind of have the problem of liking everything. I bounced from education to English to math. With math I really liked it, but when I don't get it, it's too hard."

Eventually Carr tried out journalism and graphic design. Journalism wasn't her thing and computer-aided design didn't light a fire either.

"But I loved my art class," she said. "I'm going for my BFA (bachelor of fine arts) in art (and) see where the wind takes me."

For now Carr's legs will take her to the conference meet, then the NCAA championships.

"I'd like to see how far under 17 minutes I can go," she said. "And I'd like to stay under 17. Sometimes you peak and then you go back a little ways."

Find Andrew Hinkelman online at adn.com/contact/ahinkelman or call 257-4335.

GNAC TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Ellensburg, Wash. Today and Saturday

RESULTS

wildcatsports.com

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