Sometimes, the unexpected can turn out to be just what you were looking for. This was indeed the case for Andrew Rich.

“I was never planning on running in college. I wanted to go to a big state school and just run on my own or maybe join a club team,” stated Rich.

“Running is something I really love, and I can only go like a week without running so I wasn’t going to just stop running if I went to a state school. So when I toured Kenyon, I just fell in love with all aspects of the school, and it gave me an opportunity to keep running at a higher level,” continued Rich.

The collegiate level of sports is no doubt superior and more challenging than high school but that’s not always a bad thing. The challenge of having to run hard to earn a spot on the team is something Rich enjoys.

“The more work I put in, I get to see tangible results, and get to see myself run faster in races which is always super fun…I’m really excited to be surrounded with faster guys to be able to push myself harder and get more of those results,” remarked Rich.

With all sports, your coach is one of the most important people you interact with for the season, especially in running. Your coach gives you workouts tailored to you so you still get benefits of getting faster, while not hurting yourself from overtraining.

“Coach Ron has definitely been a great help to my career. He came in this year, first year ever coaching cross country, and completely turned the program around. This year was supposed to be a down season, but Ron helped each runner progress which helped out the team a lot this season,” said Andrew.

“My favorite memory is definitely my Sophomore year. All of the seniors were obsessed with running to this pier in Rodgers Park and jumping into the lake together. It was super fun and built great chemistry between the team,” finalized Rich.