Catching up with Christy Heintz

By Kevin Morales

Editor's Note: The Daily Register periodically prints "Catching up with" to stay connected with former area high school athletes that play college athletics. Today, 2006 Poynette graduate Christy Heintz.

Name: Christy Heintz

Sports: Cross country and track and field

School: Edgewood College

Year: Sophomore

Why Edgewood College?

"I wanted to go to Edgewood just because I knew they would give me the help that I needed because school is hard for me. I like having small classes. I like when the teacher knows me. I know it sounds weird, but I like that. And just the one-on-one attention.

"There's also like the learning center and the match lab and all this stuff is free, it's included."

Did you plan to run in college?

"I've been running ever since middle school. So I just love running. If it was gonna be where school was gonna be too hard for me, then I probably wouldn't have. But it's a good way just to relieve the stress. In the back of my mind I wanted to do it, so I'm glad that I have.

"Bethany (head coach Bethany Brewster) called me and asked me if I wanted to come run for them. My mom was like, 'don't say yes, you're not sure yet.' So they kind of just asked me if I wanted to come run."

How did you get interested in distance running?

"I realized I was a distance runner because I can't sprint, ask anybody on the team.

"My sister's a runner, so it's really nice to have something in common with her. I just find it to be a lot of fun. I don't know, something I can do by myself, I don't have to have the team to do it with. I just really enjoy it."

You hold a number of Edgewood College records in track and cross country. Is that a big deal to you?

"Knowing that I broke someone else's record to get it makes me feel really good. It's a really good feeling because I'm thinking that I'm gonna have it for a little while now, so.

"Last year my coach was telling me I was gonna run the 5,000 meters (a record Heintz broke in March) and I'm just like, 'no way, I'm not doing it.' I just kind of went out there and saw what happened. The first time I ran it was when we were in Mississippi, when we were on the Spring Break trip. I just went out and just ran it like I really didn't know what I was doing. But as soon as I hit that two miles — because in high school that was like my race — I'm just like, 'I can do this.' I just got that burst of energy."

Which is better, track or cross country?

"Track. I just like track more. Maybe because it's more flat and you know how much further you have to go. With cross country it's like even if you walk the course, you usually just forget because you're more in the moment."

There's only four runners on your cross country team and six on the track team. What's it like to be part of such small teams?

"It's kind of nice to have a smaller team so you get to know everyone a lot better. For the past few years the guys team only had three guys on the team. So our coach, Bethany, wanted to build that team up. Now we have tons of guys, so now there's gonna be like 15 (runners) that are thinking about coming for girls, so we're hoping to get more girls."

You earned all-conference status as a freshman and sophomore, was that unexpected so early in your college career?

"That was awesome. It took a few days to set in, like 'it really happened.' I'm trying to go all four years."

In high school were voted Most Improved Runner after your freshman year. What about you allowed you to improve your times?

"Oh, yeah it's a mental thing. I always had this drive with one of our team members, I always wanted to beat her. Even though I know she was on our team, 'I've got to beat this girl.' So if I were to see her I would just try to go attack it. It really helped. It also helped her because it pushed her, too, because she would get upset if I was beating her."

What do you like about living in Madison?

"Well I'm able to be at Edgewood, the small town part of Edgewood, but yet be in the big city. And my sister lives right down the road, so I always bump into her and we go on runs all the time, so I love that."

How do you balance sports with academics?

"I always get homework done really early. I'm always working on homework, I never go out. I'm always in my room doing homework, so I'm always ahead of everybody. So even if I were to leave something off for a little while, I'd go look at my computer and be like, 'oh I'm like done or I'm halfway done and I didn't even realize it.' So I mean, I don't really have much of a life, but I'm getting good grades and I'm here for the school.

"And if it ever happened that I had a lot of homework... I would skip a meet because I'm here for school, as much as I love to run."