For you Frosh-Soph guys, Zach ran 17:28 at the Peoria Notre Dame meet his freshman year. He got serious after quitting basketball & the rest is history!
Zach has since moved on to a great career at Southern Illinois University. I thought you all might be interested to see what he's been doing these days.
Zach: It's been an amazing experience and it seems to be ending too soon. I've been grateful for everything that I have been blessed with and I'm excited for more to come. My early years moved a little slow and I did not start hitting times that I wanted until my junior year, but since then I have been progressively moving up. As for the education side, I'm majoring in information systems technology and minoring in accounting.
Update us on your quest to break 4:00 in the mile.
This has been a little frustrating the past year. My closest attempts have been 4:00.16, 4:00.4 and 4:01.4. I ran the 4:00.16 as a junior in indoor track so I thought for sure my senior year I would finally break it. In college, we only race the mile indoors so that's the only chance I get to run sub-4. I've also run a 3:41.1 1500m outdoor which would convert to a 3:58.mid mile.
Tell us about your best race in college so far.
My best race so far has probably been my 3:41.1 1500m at Nationals in 2012. At this point of my career I hadn't really compared myself to big names like German Fernandez or Miles Batty but I was racing them. Everything about my junior year seemed like a surprise to me. However, I was sure that despite their big names, I knew that I could compete with them. I didn't have much to lose so I put myself out there and kept making small moves and throwing elbows with the nation's best. At the end of the race I fell short of qualifying for the finals but it's given me the drive to continue my training and work harder to achieve my goals.
What do you have left to do at SIU?
- Qualify for NCAA Cross Country Nationals.
- Top 40 at Nationals.
- Sub-4 in an indoor race.
- Sub 3:39 1500.
- All American 1500m.
Do you have any running plans after college?
I definitely want to continue running after college. I want to do this for the same reasons I continued after high school. I like running, but I love racing. Competition has always been what's driven me to run fast and place high. I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do after college but I definitely hope to continue using the talents I was given.
Tell us about your favorite race from your Sandburg career.
I would say that my senior year Conference race in the mile was when I finally stopped racing comfortably and took that leap of faith. I got out at "fast" pace for me (2:09) and decided to make a strong move and go even faster after the 800m running 4:11. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the State meet.
Tell us about your favorite memory from being on Track or Cross Country at Sandburg.
There is one thing I enjoy more than an individual win, and that is winning a title as a team. Sharing the victory with my best friends at Eagle Classic 2007, PND 2008 and Sectionals 2009 were amazing memories that I enjoy looking back on. I also miss meeting up with my best friends and running an easy 8 miler.
What's your favorite Coach O'Malley story?
I don't know ... I never really listened to that guy ...
Anything else you'd like to add?
... Just kidding. My favorite Coach O'Malley story would probably be when his brother pretended to tie his shoe to fall back and run with O'Malley. I think it's great to see people spreading encouragement even when they don't need to. There are good days and bad days of running and it's nice to know that someone is by your side experiencing the same thing you are.