Senior Katie O’Brien Looking Forward to Her Last, and Hopefully Best, Season at UT

Katherine, "Katie," O'Brien is entering her senior year and her final year on the UT cross-country team. However, cross-country wasn't always her sport.

Sports have always been a part of O'Brien's life-she has a very active family, comprised of her parents, herself and her older sister and three younger siblings, a brother and two more sisters.

O'Brien played soccer all her life and only joined her high school cross-country team to stay in shape year-round. "I just did cross country because I liked to run already but I had never done [cross-country]. I ended up being kind of good."

After high school, O'Brien intended to continue playing soccer in college; however, she made the decision to run cross-country instead.

"I was worn out with soccer and with soccer you don't know if you're going to play," O'Brien said. "With running, if you have the fastest time, you're going to be the top runner."

The St. Louis native arrived at UT four years ago, choosing the school because of its location and academics. "I chose Tampa because I wanted to go somewhere far and somewhere warm." UT fit the bill.

O'Brien contacted the team's coach, Coach Slaven, who urged her to come visit and then offered her a spot on the team. "The coach is really awesome and the girls were really nice-and they still are," O'Brien said.

When visiting, O'Brien wanted to ensure that she could be happy not just on the team, but academically and socially as well.

"You never know if you're going to get hurt or just not want to do it anymore, so I wanted to make sure I liked the actual school," O'Brien said.

O'Brien is an elementary education major and plans to teach either pre-school or kindergarten; probably back home in St. Louis. "I just feel like no one is from Florida originally; they're from somewhere else. I'd rather-and in this is way in the future-raise a family somewhere where they can experience all four seasons," O'Brien said.

However, she's not sure if she'd like to return home and enter the work force right away.

"I want to teach, but I don't know if I want to do it right away. I wouldn't mind taking a year off to do service work," O'Brien said. "I used to do that in high school and I loved going to poor countries. I won't be able to just travel, because I'll be broke, but I might do service because I like doing that."

She still has two busy semesters left before she has to think about that though. This semester, O'Brien and her classmates teach 10 hours a week in the classroom. O'Brien is currently assigned to fourth grade.

"I wanted younger kids because that's what I like, but they want you to experience all ages, in case you change your mind," O'Brien explained.
Next semester, they'll be in the classroom all day, every day. It's a busy schedule, with school, teaching and running, but O'Brien is able to make it work. "[The school is] really flexible. Everyone else has to be there from 7:30 to 12:30, but since I have practice at 6, I would never make it there on time. I don't have to be there until 8:30 to 1:30."

Besides forcing a later start time, her schoolwork and responsibilities on the cross-country team don't conflict too much with one another.

"It doesn't get in the way that much, because it's in the morning. By 8, I've already had my whole workout and can move on with my day," O'Brien said.
Plus, O'Brien finds that running helps keep her on track.

"I feel like if I didn't do it, I wouldn't have my stuff together. If I didn't get up and run, I wouldn't because I wouldn't have to," O'Brien said. "It's weird because in the offseason, I'm like 'oh I'm going to have so much more time to do my work' but it seems to be a pattern that when I don't have something that I have to do, I don't have to do it until the last minute, so I just put it off."

"Whereas when I have practice, I have to show up and I have to get stuff done."

O'Brien is looking forward to a great senior season. With a large incoming class-at the moment, there are eight freshmen on the female cross-country roster-and the talent currently on the team, O'Brien believes that the team can have their best year since she's been on the team. Other than that, she's looking forward to enjoying her final season. O'Brien has already broken her fastest race time this year and wants to continue that trend as well.

"I want to have fun. I don't ever want to get stressed out about [running]. I want to have a good season, but it's not the end of the world if I don't do well at a race."

Written by April Weiner