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Betsy Bies during Friday's practice introductions at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

Interview with Betsy Bies

Posted on December 14, 2006, Interview conducted December 9, 2006

By Alison Wade

During Friday's course tour, the day before the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, many of the athletes who would compete in the following day's national championship race were quiet and focused. Betsy Bies, on the other hand, was at the center of a group of Midwest girls who seemed to be having a blast, and had picked up branches from the ground to jokingly use as walking sticks. It wasn't that Bies and her Midwest teammates weren't serious about their races, but they seemed to be finding the right balance between preparing to compete and having a good time. It seemed to pay off the next day as Bies finished 12th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and helped the Midwest to the team title.

The race marked the end of a tiring two-weeks stretch for Bies. On November 25th, the senior at Yankton (SD) High School finished eighth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin, qualifying for the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. One week later, she finished second at Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon, adding to her win there in 2005 and helping her Yankton team to a fifth-place finish. She then finished out her season in San Diego, with a 12th-place national finish, which earned her third-team All-American honors. Bies was a repeat All-American after finishing 10th at nationals as a junior.

At the South Dakota state cross country meet on October 21st, Bies, the 2005 state champion, finished second to fellow Foot Locker Finalist Allison Eckert and led Yankton to its fourth-consecutive AA state title. Bies has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Oregon. We caught up with her several hours after her final high school cross country race.

Tell us about your decision to attend the University of Oregon.
I just love it out there. I have an aunt and uncle who live in Portland, so that's a nice balance there. They also have a pretty good business school with sports marketing, and some pretty good hookups with Nike. I want to major in business, so that was also good. I know most of the team from Foot Locker last year, so I felt really comfortable on my visit. Vin Lananna's the coach up there, as well as Maurica Powell. I felt really comfortable with them and I know they're going to have great success in the future. Eugene is a great town, they have a lot of support for track in the community. I haven't had really great track seasons yet, but I think that [by going] there, I can excel.

It came down to Colorado and Oregon and it was really tough for me, really tough. Especially with the coaches and all of their credentials. I felt that either program would be great. It came down to my heart, and my heart was set on Oregon, even though I knew Colorado was going to be great too. But I've always wanted to [go to Oregon] and I just feel like I'll be comfortable there.

It's a tough decision, but having to choose between Oregon and Colorado is a good problem to have.
Right, and I'm really glad I got it out of the way. It's such a relief. It's really great to get it out of the way and know where I'm going.

What was the recruiting process like? Were you overwhelmed by it?
It actually wasn't too bad because Ramsey Kavan is also from Yankton and I think some of the coaches figured out whether our program fit with theirs [while recruiting her]. I actually didn't have too many people calling me, and I tried to narrow it down right away. In the summer, I went to cross country camp in Wisconsin. I was like, 'I'm just going to check this out to see if it fits.' Then I tried to make a top-10 list. I started with my top 15 at the end of track season and then I tried to narrow it down. I didn't think I was very organized until I finally had it down to like three in September. When people called me, I wasn't afraid to say no. Arizona State was calling me a lot. They have a great program and they're awesome. I really like their coach, but I wasn't afraid to say, 'You know what? I really don't deal with heat well. I don't think I can do it.' If I were to give advice to other people, with college decisions, you just go with your heart and don't be afraid to say no to people, because they recruit people every year, they get turned down a lot.

Tell us about the Nike Team Nationals/Foot Locker double on back-to-back weekends. Where were you between the two meets, and how did you approach running both?
Well, I went through the same experience last year, so this year I was a little more prepared. I was a lot more calm about everything. Last year I was super nervous about everything. This year I was like, 'This is a great experience. I'm going to take advantage of it and have a great time.' Last week was NTN, and the week before was [the Foot Locker Midwest Regional]. That's pretty far away, in Wisconsin, which is a 10-hour drive; we make the long haul. We drive 10 hours, then we race, then we drive back. That's pretty rough because we have a day to recover, then we have a workout because NTN's huge, and that race is a very important part of our program.

I tried to run a smart race at NTN because I knew it was going to be rough this weekend; the girls here are a lot more competitive than they were in the past. I had to be ready for that. When we came to San Diego, Allison Eckert and I—she went to NTN also—we didn't realize how tired we were until we got here on Thursday. We probably slept a solid 12 hours a night.

Where were you between Nike Team Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals?
Oh, I went back home, and so did Allie. When we got here, we were pooped. We were sleeping like no one's business. Then it came race time and I wasn't feeling too hot, but you just gotta do it. I ended up being 12th, which I'm actually really excited about. I think I finished the best of all the girls who ran NTN too.

Where were you throughout the race? How did it play out from your perspective?
The start was actually pretty slow, so there was a huge pack. Everyone was there through the mile. It was rough. I tried to keep my head in it and not let anything distract me. There were people falling over the roots, and I was just like, 'Okay, don't go over there!' I just stayed relaxed and thought, 'Just be patient, just be patient, it'll thin out.' I moved my way around people and I think around the mile-and-a-half or two-mile I was in about 15th and I stayed there the rest of the race.

The second time up the hill was rough; that's when I definitely felt the last three weeks. I just tried to keep my head up. My parents were there cheering me on, and my coach was there cheering me on. The Midwest Regional coordinator [Pete Henkes] was cheering, 'Go Midwest!' There were some Oregon people there, so I was just like, 'Don't pansy out!' So I kept running. I wanted to get in the top 15, that was my goal...actually top 10 was, but I had to be realistic. Around three miles there were three South girls in front of me and they were running pretty tough. They started to fall back and I was just like, 'You gotta get them.' So I kicked it in a little bit and ended up getting 12th. It was exciting.

Has it made it easier for you having Ramsey Kavan paving the way in terms of qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals and going through the whole college search process?
Yeah, it helps out a lot because my coach knows what to expect, and he's more prepared for that than he was with Ramsey. We're completely different people, and people figure that out once they talk to me [laughs], but it really helps. She put South Dakota on the map for us and we've been running great.

Why do you think the Yankton team has been so successful?
We just click, we really do. We work really hard, and maybe that's just our Midwest genes or something. Our coaches work great together. We have our head coach [Dan Fitzsimmons] who is pretty hard-core and does all of the research. He's like, 'We're going to do this, this is what Stanford does.' And then we have our assistant coach [Dave Dannenbring] who's really relaxed about it. He's like, 'You guys just gotta love it.' This year we've really turned it around. Last year we concentrated on running our best every day and this year it was more, 'You gotta love what you're doing.' I really took that to heart; that's how I run. That really works for me, and I think it worked for my team also. We were a lot more relaxed this year than in past years. For us it comes down to faith and trust, and just loving it. As long as you love it, there's nothing that can go wrong.

Why do you think Yankton has such a motivated team? A lot of high school coaches put a lot of energy just into getting kids not to slack off during practice.
Oh, we do that too, that's every high schooler [laughs]. For us, we really put it in perspective when people call our coach and are like, 'Hey, we want to interview you guys; we really think you're inspirational.' I think that helps motivate us a lot. That's crazy, I never would have [imagined] anything like this could happen when I was a freshman and I went out for cross country the first time. It just keeps getting better. I'm really excited for what's to come.

What kind of mileage have you done throughout your high school career and what do you do now?
Well, we do more mileage than most people. Our whole philosophy is moderation and consistency. I've stayed at about 55-65 consistently; 65 is my highest. I don't even know what I did when I was a freshman or a sophomore, maybe 40 miles a week to start. We do a lot of strength running—hills and long tempos. We don't really do any track work. They only track work we do is right before big meets. The only track workouts I've done this year were this Wednesday and the Wednesday before Nike Team Nationals.

What would a sample workout be for you and your team?
It's really hard to explain [laughs]. We have these trails down by our lake and they're really steep. They're called the horse trails and you've never seen trails like them. They're straight uphill. Even though you might just be trotting up it, it really gets your heart rate up and it really gets you ready for anything. The hill [on the Balboa Park course] actually reminded me of the hills we run up at home. We also do mile repeats up this huge hill in town, and stuff like that. At least once a week, and sometimes twice a week, we do hill running.

Do you do repeats on these hills? How does it work?
The trail is five miles, and there are consistent hills. For the mile repeats, there's one huge hill and we do like six mile repeats on that. It's rough but it really gets you motivated. You're like, 'Wow, I just ran that!' It's awesome, it really boosts your confidence.

Do you lift weights?
Yeah, we lift 2-3 times a week. We do bar exercises and pullups and chinups. We try to do pullups and chinups every day. I'm a pansy, I use the assisted machine [laughs], but even with that, we try to do our mileage in pullups. If we run seven miles, we try to do seven pullups. For abs, we go by how many minutes we run. If we run 60 minutes, we do 60 situps.

You seem like you've been pretty relaxed this year. What has been your favorite part of the whole experience?
Allie [Allison Eckert] and I have been having a great time. It's so weird because we're like rivals during the season. It's like head-to-head...we don't talk. But once state is over, that barrier is gone, and we're seriously like great friends, man. I actually spent the night at her house the day before we left [for Foot Locker], because my flight was early and I had to drive an hour to get to the airport. So we've been having a great time. I told her right away, 'Allie, we made it to San Diego, [the rivalry] doesn't even matter now.' [laughs] I've just been trying to have as much fun as possible. This is a great experience and I love everyone here, even the regional coordinators and stuff. You just have to take advantage of [this opportunity] and meet as many people as you can.