CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Senior cross country runner
Michael Crouch (Yucca Valley, Calif., Yucca Valley) has been selected at the September InterCon Student-Athlete of the Month. The honor is the first InterCon Student-Athlete of the Month for the 2010-2011 school year and the fourth time Crouch has been selected for his efforts during the cross country seasons.
During the month of September, Crouch won the Appalachian State's Mountaineer Open for the second year in a row, bettering his own course record. Michael posted a time of 19:21.78 for the 6,400-meter (four-mile) course winning by over 30 seconds in the DI and DII combined field that included Ohio State and East Tennessee. He led the NO. 7 nationally ranked Royals to a second place tie with NO. 8 ranked Southern Illinois.
"It is sincerely good to have Michael back, healthy and training after solving the causes of his injury,” said Head Cross Country Coach Scott Simmons. “He's back on track and progressing to what looks like will be his best year of competition."
Members of the Sports Information staff caught up with Michael to ask him a few questions:
Q:This is your fourth time to win the InterCon Student-Athlete of the Month award for cross country, how does this make you feel?
A: It's proof that I am still on the right track with my athletics. It shows me that I am getting out of my running what I am putting into it.
Q: The cross country team has had pretty good success since you have been with the team, what are your goals for the rest of this season?
A: Just like any team we have high ambitions especially with the new talents we have recently come across. But, one of our goals for this season is to focus on ourselves. What I mean by that is we will try to work on our team unity and own personal goals and wherever that takes us then we will be satisfied.
Q: You must train exceptionally hard, how do you keep yourself this dedicated and on task?
A: For me, in order to maintain my sanity with this demanding sport, I must always be looking towards the future. I have to be looking towards my post-collegiate career and let the uncertainty of what my body can do be my drive.
Michael was given a list of 20 fun questions and was asked to answer 10. Please enjoy his answers below:
Alex Schilling scares me, when he goes into hungry mode.
The sport I play the worst is soccer. This is probably because I never really took too big an interest in it. But I definitely admire their foot and eye coordination.
Coach Simmons makes me laugh when he blames republicans for global warming. I always have a little chuckle to myself.
Must-have on road trips? My ipod. Music makes the world go around. Well at least my world.
Any rituals before a game? Ever since high school I have listened to my three Nirvana songs, prayed to God for strength to push as hard as I can, for a fair race and lastly I try and make myself as nervous as possible. That's when your body and mind go into survival mode and you do things that you didn't think were possible.
The song I listen to to pump me up is Degausser from Brand New
People always say I look like their friend Tyler. Why? I have no idea.
My favorite cartoon as a kid was The Simpsons.
I would pay anything to see Brand New in concert.
All the girls on our team spend too much time looking in the mirror. It is a result of them all bringing SO MANY bags on a one night trip for a race.
