Shaun Thompson had a tough choice to make last summer.
One of the fastest Blue Devil harriers, he could run out the clock on his college career—or he could take himself out of commission for the 2014 campaign and enable himself to pursue loftier goals in 2016.
He chose the latter, deciding to redshirt during his senior cross-country season, giving him a fifth year of eligibility to train for the U.S. Olympic Trials next July and allowing him to pick up an advanced degree in the process.
“[Voluntarily redshirting] is a difficult situation because you’re trying to do what you think will best for the team in the future,” Thompson said. “It stunk to do it because I knew it was going to affect how the team did last year. I felt almost as if you’re not necessarily betraying the people who came in and the people in my class who were still running—but it’s not the best. It’s a hard thing to balance. We love to race, we do this because we love to race, but we’re deciding not to race even though we’re healthy.”
By sitting out the 2014 season—with the exception of a first-place finish as an individual at the Three Stripe Invitational in November—Thompson got a jump-start on training for the indoor track season, which paid off in a big way. The Baldwinsville, N.Y., native set a new school record in February in the 5,000 meters, clocking in at 13:47.22—a sub-4:30 mile pace that earned him All-American honors. Thompson also did not participate in the outdoor track season, giving him one more year of eligibility in the spring as well.
After the cross-country season wraps up later this fall, Thompson will again have a long window to focus on heavy training. With no more indoor track eligibility remaining, he will spend the winter months readying himself for the outdoor season—which will then catapult him into his last stretch of training before the Olympic Trials in July.
“It would be probably pretty difficult to make his Olympic bid as a first-year employee for some company that’s going to be demanding and make him work full-time and put everything into it,” Duke head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “He also didn’t want to necessarily change coaches in the middle of it, so by staying at Duke for a fifth year, he has a very smooth transition into the Olympic year. “
Thompson runs about 95 to 100 miles per week—the most of any Blue Devil runner—to build up for the cross-country season. Last year’s roster had more middle-distance runners, he said, anticipating that this year’s group could push toward the front of the pack on the 8,000-meter courses, which also played into his decision to redshirt.
With Thompson, junior Aaron Liberatore and seniors William Hague and Blake Udland in the mix at the front of the pack, Ogilvie said he thinks the Blue Devils have a good chance to qualify for the NCAA championship for the fourth time in seven years after missing out last season. Duke will use its season-opening meet Sept. 4 at Virginia Tech’s Hokie Invitational to get its initial lineup straightened out before hosting N.C. Central in the Bull City Classic Sept. 12.
“Our team suffered a bit last year without Shaun being on the team, but now this year that all comes back to us and he’ll be a great leader,” Ogilvie said. “We’ll have a front-runner, which really helps your team spot if you have a low stick—that means your top runners finish first, second or third at these big meets. I think that’s going to be a big help.”
And if Thompson comes up short in his bid to run the 10,000 meters in Rio de Janeiro next summer, the extra year on campus will have produced his teaching certification and license, which the former biophysics major plans to use to start teaching high school physics.
“It’s all part of a master plan that was concocted that we had for Shaun,” Ogilvie said. “So far, so good.”
Editor's Note: In Wednesday's print edition, a photo of former Blue Devil Phil Fairleigh appeared with this story. The Chronicle regrets the error.
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