Posted 03/23/07
UW-Platteville's Emma Dreis was part of the NCAA III national championship distance medley relay team, which won in a national record time of 11:34.46. The sophomore from Mazomanie (Wisconsin Heights High School) ran the first 1,200 meters, Bobbi Arand ran 400 meters, Jessica Scott 800, and Marcia Taddy 1,600.
UW-Platteville and Tufts had the two fastest times coming into the national championship race, and it ended up coming down to those two schools. Can you go through that race?
"I knew I had to go out fast. Tufts had pulled all their runners out of their individual races and had them fresh for the relay. Marcia and I had already run races. So I just went out fast and led for most of the race until the last two laps when the Tufts girl came around. I was like, 'just go with her.' Bobbi did exactly what she was supposed to, because North Central has a really good 400 runner, and then Jessica ran an amazingly smart race. She knew the top two girls would go out really fast, and Jessica slowly caught them. And then we knew Marcia would be tired, and Jessica told us Marcia really wanted us to cheer her on. So we did that, but then the Tufts girl passed her. We told her 'just stay with her Marcia' and she did. The last 100 meters were the best 100 meters of my life. Even though I wasn't running them."
What was the feeling like when you knew you won?
"None of knew we broke the record. We were just happy happy we won. Then we found out we broke the record--by a lot. That boosted us even more."
What was it like to stand on the podium?
"It was awesome. That is just a great feeling. I had been second place at conference, and that was pretty cool. It was awesome to be at number one and be able to say 'we're number one in the nation.' "
Coming into UW-Platteville, did you ever expect to have that kind of success?
"Not at all. After last year, the coaches told me I showed some potential but really had to work at it, in the weight room and increasing my mileage. I increased my mileage a lot in the summer and it paid off in cross country (earning all-conference and all-region honors), but I didn't ever expect to come here and run a couple of seconds behind Marcia in my second year. That really surprised me. I don't think it's really set in that, wow, I'm really fast! I know I have a long ways to go, though, too."
Did you ever realize that you had the second fastest time in the country this year in the mile, right behind Marcia? If it weren't for Marcia, the NCAA III athlete of the year, everybody would have talking about you in that event.
"It's interesting because Marcia is always ahead of me. So I never do that 'hey I'm really fast', because Marcia is really, really fast. She's a couple of seconds faster, but coaches keep telling me that I'm fast, too. I don't think that has really set in. Hopefully this week, it will."
Now comes the outdoor season, and the Pioneers will debut a new track. How excited are you to run on that?
"I'm really excited about it. I ran on it a little bit over the summer when it first opened up, and it felt really nice. It will be a lot of fun."
What originally brought you to UW-Platteville?
"The engineering program. I was going to come here no matter what, and I was really happy when (assistant coach) Dan Schwamberger called me one day and asked, 'hey, do you want to run cross country?' I was like, 'sure, why not. I like to run.' I was really happy I was able to continue to run...My dad went here and said this is one of the best engineering schools in the nation. And then they wanted me to run, too. So it was perfect."
Interview by SID Paul Erickson