In Focus: King, Meyers lead Huskies back to NCAA Championships
November 19, 2015 | Cross Country, General
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
Two runners. Two All-Americans. Two Washington seniors heading back to the NCAA championships.
For Maddie Meyers and Tyler King, this week is an opportunity to compete among the nation's elite in the final NCAA meet of the year Saturday in Louisville, Ky.
“It's fun going back,” King said. “Honestly, this year, that was the expectation.”
Meyers added, “We're just excited to get out there. We're all going to click on the same day and have an awesome race.”
But, while each athlete is looking to better their performance from a year ago – Meyers finished 27th and King was 40th – their journey to this point has been drastically different.
For King, his journey is a testament to peaking at the right time.
“It's always cool to run your best races at the end,” he said.
In each of the last two seasons, his first race – the Sundodger Invitational – was his worst. In fact, this year's race was 10 seconds slower than the previous season's.
His thought at the time, “maybe I'll just end the season 10 seconds faster.”
After the race, he remembers telling associate head coach Jason Drake, “Dude, I'm nervous.”
“I had just gotten so far away from where I wanted to be,” King said.
Drake's reply: “Were you nervous last year?”
“Yeah,” King said.
Drake told the senior that everything would be OK. King ran throughout the summer, but “I was also working quite a bit and I think I came in a little overweight, a little tired.”
Once the season started, he ate better. He lost weight. He slept, “a lot.”
“It took a while for the training to take hold as I let myself recover a little more during the school year, started getting better sleep and that kind of stuff,” he said.
King never lost the belief in himself. His teammates knew he could get back to an All-American level. His coaches knew it was only a matter of time before he returned to form.
His best performance was his most recent race. In the NCAA West Regional, he finished fifth. He helped the Huskies win their first-ever West Region title.
“We've just been building every single race,” King said.
Before the season, during the team's annual retreat, the Huskies held a athletes-only meeting.
“Can we go get top eight (in the nation)?” the group asked after finishing 20th last year.
Now at the end of the season, that goal still seems attainable for King and his teammates. In fact, he talks about that more than individual success.
“I don't want to limit what we can do,” King said. “We've just got to go out and give a good effort. We run every single day. You've got to keep it in perspective. You can't blow it up into something bigger than it is.”
King has gotten back to an elite level by maintaining perspective and a belief in his ability. Mission accomplished.
Meyers, meanwhile, has been a consistent presence from start to finish. She finished second at the Sundodger, third at the Washington Invitational, 29th at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, third at the Pac-12 championships and NCAA West Regional.
“I've been pretty consistent so far,” Meyers said. “Now I can use that to help me through this race.”
Her goal for the final meet of her cross country career?
“I would just like to do better than I did last year,” she said. “I feel like I'm fitter and stronger, so I'm hoping I can get out in that front pack, be an All-American and get up there a little bit more.”
Like King, though, Meyers is balancing the drive for individual success with the need to help her teammates reach their potential.
“We have a lot of people here who are still pretty young and we have a couple of us who are finishing it out,” Meyers said. “It's like a first and last for a lot of us. I kind of just think back to when I was a freshman and what I wish would have been said to me at that time.”
With all of the elite races Meyers has competed in throughout her career, she has a wealth of advice to share. However, Washington's young runners have shown they are “naturals,” so far.
“I don't think we're going to have a problem,” Meyers said.
With one more cross country race in their careers, Meyers and King plan to savor the moment.
“I don't think I realized as a freshman how quickly it all goes by,” Meyers said. “Everyone always says it, but at the time you're just a freshman in college with all these new experiences. Racing-wise, it's been a full roller coaster.”
They plan to build on last week's success and cap a strong season with an impressive showing at the NCAA championships.
“I think both teams deserve it,” Meyers said. “Everyone has worked really hard. “This is a fun race to top off the season.”
