My Freshman Season at LSU: What Actually Happened

My freshman season D1 running journey at Louisiana State University did not go the way I planned. Between injuries, missed competitions, and the loneliness of watching my teammates travel without me, a typical day was not easy — it was full of challenges that tested every part of my running career. But looking back, I also found moments that proved I belonged at this level. Here is the full story of how my first year as a collegiate athlete unfolded.

From soccer kid to committed runner

My running career started in seventh grade cross country, where I originally joined just to get in shape for soccer. Throughout high school, soccer was still my main sport and I only started training for track in the late fall each year. My sophomore year I found the 800 meters and ran 1:58, qualifying for state where I took sixth. Junior year I randomly dropped a 1:55 and made state again, finishing third. I was planning to race at Nike Nationals that year but a stress fracture about a week out ended that dream. My senior year brought another stress fracture right at the start of the season and I ended up doing most of my training in the pool, only jumping on the track for select workouts. Despite all of that I still scraped together a fourth-place state finish in the 800 and helped win the 4×8 at state before committing to LSU.

Arriving at LSU out of shape and adjusting to humidity

The first few weeks on campus were rough. I had only been running about two weeks and was doing maybe ten miles per week. My very first run in Baton Rouge was a six-mile jog with a couple of the other freshmen and we went around 6:00 to 6:30 pace. That does not sound insane but for me, out of shape and completely unadjusted to the Louisiana humidity, it was brutal. After a few weeks of runs like that I started getting back into decent shape. By mid-September I could hang with the long distance group on about half their workouts while also doing sessions with the mid-distance group.

In the late fall things started clicking. I remember one workout in particular: 4 sets of 3×200 meters with 30 seconds rest between reps and 6 minutes between sets. We were clicking off 26s and 27s and it honestly was not too bad. The biggest thing from that session was that I actually beat one of my teammates who ran 1:48 that season. Around this time I also jumped into a random road 5K and ran about 15:40. It felt easy and it was a significant PR which told me the fitness was building.

Nerve damage and missing half of indoor season

Then late November hit and everything fell apart. I had gone home for Thanksgiving break and ended up with nerve damage in my left knee from using an electrical stimulation device. The frustrating thing about nerve damage is that every single day I felt like it was going to resolve tomorrow. That tomorrow turned into days then weeks then almost two months. Before I knew it I had missed the entire first half of indoor season.

February became a massive training block. I was working hard every day doing doubles on the cross-trainer desperately trying to cling to fitness so I could make my outdoor debut. But it was lonely. My teammates were traveling to meets every weekend while I was stuck at home watching them on TV. When I went to dinner nobody was there. When I went to the training room it was just me. That isolation kept my head down and kept me grinding and I came out the other side with real fitness. During this time I paced my teammates through a mile at a random 3K and ran about 4:32 without much effort which was when I realized maybe I could get back in shape by outdoor.

Outdoor debut and building momentum

Our first outdoor meet was in Miami and I was lucky enough to make the travel roster. I ran 3:56 in the 1500 meters which converted to about a four-second PR from high school and I closed my last 400 in 59 seconds. It felt pretty easy and knowing I was only a couple of weeks back into full training it gave me serious motivation for the rest of the season. The next big meet was Battle on the Bayou, a huge competition with about 14 Power Five schools. I ran another 1500 PR of 3:54 in a packed heat.

Late season PRs and my freshman season D1 running breakthrough

At the LSU Alumni Gold I ran 3:52 in the 1500, another two-second PR. My coach kept telling me I could go sub-3:50 if I just put the race together. The following week at the LSU Invitational everything seemed stacked against me. My racing spikes had ripped the day before so I had to use brand new Dragonflies in a half size up and the wind was relentless. Despite all of that I consider this one of my best races. I ran the first 800 in 2:03 which was something I had been struggling with all year. In the final group I was running alongside a 3:46 1500 guy, a 7:49 3K runner, and a 13:44 5K guy. Holding my own against that level of competition proved I belong here.

Missing the SEC Championships and looking ahead

At the end of the regular season the coach had to narrow the roster to 30 guys for the SEC Championships. I did not make the cut and just like that my freshman season was over. It was not the ending I wanted for my freshman season D1 running career, but when I zoom out and look at the full picture I went from being unable to run ten miles a week to competing against some of the best middle-distance runners in the country. I dealt with two separate injuries, missed half of indoor, and still managed to run lifetime PRs outdoor. Sometimes your freshman season does not go the way you planned and that is okay. The growth happens in the struggle not in the highlight reel.