By Brian Holtzapple
DURHAM, N.C. -- Following an outstanding four-year career at Lewisburg High School that saw her win PIAA gold medals in both cross country and track, Sophia Ziemian dreamed of heading off to a big university where she could be a "small fish" again.
Now a freshman at Duke, Ziemian got her wish, although she's not going to be a small fish much longer.
Ziemian has accomplished more than she ever imagined in the short amount of time that she's been wearing a Blue Devils' uniform. Her collegiate career got a big boost on Feb. 13 when she finished sixth in the 6K race at the USATF Junior Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash., in a time of 20 minutes, 49 seconds.
The finish landed Ziemian on the U.S. Junior National Team, and it qualified her for the 38th International Association of Athletics Federations World Cross Country Championships held March 28, in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Heading into the junior championships Ziemian just wanted to finish well.
"I knew the race was typically small but very competitive up front, so I wasn't going into it expecting to qualify for the world junior team ... although that's obviously what I hoped," said Ziemian, who qualified along with teammate Juliet Bottorff (3rd, 20:32). "It worked out well for me because the first 1K wasn't super fast and I do better if I run even splits.
"I'm really excited that I earned a spot on the world team," Ziemian added. "Duke has such a strong team, and an amazing freshman class, that I'm very happy to be a part of something so special."
At the IAAF championships Ziemian is expecting a much faster and competitive race that features the nation's best junior runners that hail from schools including Providence, Georgetown and Colorado.
"I have heard that the early pace is very fast in all of the races at the world championships, so that should be interesting," Ziemian said. "I don't have any specific goals for the race. I would like to run a strong race and push myself to a good time, but I know that the competition will be amazing.
"That's what makes this so exciting for me. It will be a thrill to stand on the starting line with some of the best junior cross country runners in the world," added Ziemian. "I am also very excited about the opportunity to watch many Olympians and world champions run in the professionals' race."
While in Poland Ziemian will be supported and cheered on by her father, Ron, and younger sister, Marina.
In addition to seeing his daughter compete in the ACC indoor championships, Ron also flew to Washington to watch his daughter qualify for the IAAF championships.
"My family has always been extremely supportive and it will be great to have my dad and sister there," said Sophia. "My parents drove down to Virginia Tech in some crazy weather conditions to watch me run the 5K at the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor championships, and it was so nice to have them at the meet."
At the ACC indoor meet Ziemian placed fifth in the 5K race in 16:48. Back in November she competed in the NCAA cross country championships in Terre Haute, Ind., and she finished 146th in 21:36.7.
"It's been very rewarding to watch Sophia mature as a student, an athlete and a person," said Ron Ziemian. "She wanted a very competitive environment that she believed would help her improve...both athletically and academically. She seems to have found that at Duke.
"Sophia works very hard and tries to set aggressive goals. One of her goals when she left for Duke was to run in the NCAA cross country championships before graduating," added Sophia's father. "The fact that she was able to improve and perform at a level that allowed her to achieve that goal in her freshman year was amazing. Qualifying for the USA junior national cross country team and traveling to Poland to race in the world junior championships is something I don't believe she even imagined."
When she returns from Poland, Sophia Ziemian will have more than a week's worth of school work to catch up on. The outdoor track season is about to begin and she'll have a new event to train for.
"It looks like I'll be running the 10K for outdoor track, so that's exciting as it will be a totally new race for me," she said. "At this point I'm just excited and thankful to have this amazing opportunity, though I'll be missing an entire week of classes and I'm a little worried about making up all that work."
