It wasn’t quite the time he would have liked, but Brescia University senior Kyle Robinson was still content with ending his cross country career at the NAIA National Championships.
Robinson finished his 8K race in 27:17 in Friday’s meet at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was 17 seconds slower than his personal record, which he set two weeks earlier in the River States Conference Championships to earn his qualification.
He was hoping to beat that mark, but thinks it was still a good finish. Most disappointing to him was a slow fourth mile, though his final mile was faster than normal.
“I’m content with how it went,” he said. “It’s a little frustrating looking back and seeing the really slow mile and knowing if I would have been more on my pace on that mile, I probably would have broke 27 and ran another PR. It was still the second fastest time I’ve ever run for the 8K, and it was 24 degrees outside with the wind chill, so I can’t be too disappointed with it.”
Robinson said the meet was totally different than any other in his career, including the KHSAA state meet when he attended Henderson County High School.
“That race was unlike anything I’ve run in my life, especially that first mile,” he said. “I’ve never run in anything where everyone was so tight together. There really wasn’t a whole lot of room to move. I just kind of had to hope the race went out at my pace, which it did, so I was lucky for that.”
Robinson advanced to the national meet after running a personal best (27:00) to finish eighth overall at the conference meet at Yellow Creek Park. Following that race, he was named to the All-RSC Second Team.
Robinson said he had to push himself over the final mile in order to know confidently he was going to advance. He picked off runners one by one to move from 14th to eighth in the final stretch.
“That mile at conference was the most terrifying and exhilarating last part of a race I’ve ever had,” he said. “I knew to be safe and guaranteed to make nationals, I couldn’t let anybody pass me.”
Robinson said he’s still trying to get used to the fact that his cross country career is over. He had a similar feeling after leaving high school, but this time it’s going to last.
“It’s one of those feelings that hasn’t really, truly set in yet,” he said. “I felt the same way after high school state my senior year. It hadn’t set in that that part was done for me. Now that it’s truly done with this being college instead of high school, it’s not really set in yet.”
Robinson said he was thankful for the offer from Brescia, as it was the only school that gave him a scholarship. He’s time isn’t totally up with the Bearcats, though, as he’s still got the track and field season in the spring.
He’s got big plans to improve on past results — second place twice in the 10K — and plans to train hard for the half marathon and qualify for nationals.
Robinson said he’s not totally sure where is running will take him beyond college, but he’s not prepared to give it up. If all goes well, he’d like to run for a while before finding some sort of coaching position.
“If (the half marathon) goes pretty well, I might move in to try to do stuff like that and eventually try to qualify for (the Boston Marathon),” he said. “I could see coaching being in my future as well, hopefully whether it’s just an assistant coaching role or moving into a head coaching role eventually. In some kind of capacity, I’d like to be able to help other people and teach them some of the stuff that I’ve learned throughout my running career.”
