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Cross country runner ‘van’dalizes competition
Productivity in athletics is a good thing. Constant improvement in athletics is a good thing. Intelligence and class in athletics is a good thing. But you don’t make it into The Players Club for being good at something. That is why inducting cross country/track standout Karin van Rooyen was easy. She isn’t good at what she does. She is beat your ass, pick you up and give you a lollipop, say sorry, then beat your ass again, good.
Not to say that the sophomore distance runner from Ermelo, South Africa is rough and tough. She is simply the kind of athlete that knows what it takes to get the job done. Women’s cross country coach John Rembao couldn’t ask for a better athlete than van Rooyen.
“She is talented and committed which together make a great combo,” Rembao said. “Some athletes in college are talented and some are committed. You don’t see many athletes like Karin that have both of those.”
From the start of her Mustang cross-country career, van Rooyen has been running right past the competition. Her 2001 freshman cross-country campaign consisted of a fourth place finish at the Baylor Invitational, second place finish at the University of North Texas Invitational and a third place finish at the Western Athletic Conference Championships. The season performance was enough to qualify van Rooyen for the NCAA South Central Cross-Country Regional. At the meet she placed second and was only three seconds out of first place. She then became the lone Mustang representative at the national championship meet later that year.
Her remarkable first cross-country season at SMU was capped with the WAC Freshman of the Year honor.
But wait, there is more.
When most athletes trade in their cleats for pajama pants and a Big Mac, van Rooyen just changes into track shoes. Sure Bo Jackson could play baseball and football, but we are talking running here – running fast.
She isn’t just pretty good at cross-country and track; van Rooyen excels at both. She leaves no time to pat herself on the back for her accomplishments. She has to start training for the second season when the first one is over. Did I mention she still has to go to class just like the rest of us?
As a freshman on the track, van Rooyen dominated. She won the 1500-meter race at the College Station Relays. She won the 3000-meter at the Dr. Pepper Invitational. In case just winning races wasn’t enough, she decided to destroy the 5000-meter WAC record at the Mr. SAC Relays with a time of 16:03.40.
A week after she set the 5000-meter record, van Rooyen etched her name in the school record books once again. At the Drake Relays she ran the 3000-meter in a school record 9:34.29, which was also 30 seconds faster than any of her competitors.
While most college freshman have trouble finding enough time in the day to eat, sleep and study, van Rooyen finds enough time to do it all and still win some races in the process.
She wrapped up her freshman track campaign by winning the 1500 and the 5000 at the WAC Championships. She went on to place eleventh at the NCAA national tournament. She once again grabbed the WAC Freshman of the Year honor. The track trophy could sit right next to the one she received a semester earlier for that other sport she owns.
Rembao’s face lights up when he speaks of the possibilities for van Rooyen.
“She will keep getting better and better every year,” he said. “There are races we put her in and we think she is better than everyone she is racing.”
Is it humanly possible to improve on one of the best freshman seasons this university has seen in ages? Could she possibly fall into the dreaded sophomore slump? If you’re in the TPC, there is no slumping allowed. Unless you define slumping as three first place finishes, back-to-back WAC Championships and the WAC Athlete of the Year award. Not to mention a first place finish at the South Central Cross Country Regional, a feat never before accomplished by a Mustang runner.
Rounding out the year, van Rooyen finished fourteenth at the NCAA Championships and was only five seconds from a top 10 finish. The remarkable season was complete with van Rooyen receiving an All-American award.
“It is so exciting for her,” Rembao said. “She has national champion potential and it will be great to see if she can get there.”
The track season is just getting underway and van Rooyen will look to pick up where she left off. The competition is quickly learning to get out of the way or don’t complain when she puts cleat marks across their backsides. There is no doubt she will fill her SMU career with many more outstanding accomplishments. Van Rooyen is one Mustang you should know.