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After strong first year, Hamilton thinking big
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After a strong freshman year as YSU’s second-best cross country runner, Samantha Hamilton has embraced the team’s top spot this fall with eyes on first team all-conference honors.
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
When Lauren Blase graduated last year, the Youngstown State women’s cross country team lost its best runner and Samantha Hamilton lost her fastest training partner.
“I was really worried about her graduating and me being out there [in front],” said Hamilton, who was the team’s second-best runner for much of last season. “But this year’s a little bit different in that I’ve kind of found my own confidence, my own motivation.
“I kind of came out and said, ‘My freshman year’s over, I competed nationally on a junior level and now let’s see how fast I can really get.’”
She’s off to a good start so far.
Hamilton finished a team-best seventh with a time of 18 minutes, 35 seconds at the Duquesne Duals on Sept. 4, then finished fourth (also a team best) at last week’s Tommy Evans Invitational in Akron with a time of 18:50 — almost 20 seconds better than last year.
That start follows a freshman year in which she earned second team All-Horizon League honors with an 11th-place finish at the conference meet. She scored at all five meets, finishing second in four of them, with a personal-best 19:07 at the Akron Quad meet.
She has three more meets before the Oct. 30 Horizon League meet, where she’d like to finish in the top seven (to earn first team all-league honors) or, even better, the top three. She’d also like to lower her personal best to around 18 minutes, no small feat considering every meet (and every meet’s weather) brings its own challenges.
“I have big expectations,” she said.
Those expectations extend to track season, where Hamilton will enter the season with one eye on the school’s 1500-meter run and 3,000-meter steeplechase records (she’s No. 2 in both) and postseason success.
“I was really, really happy I tried the steeplechase,” said Hamilton, who won a league title in the event. “It’s a scrappy race. It’s a challenge. It’s a lot harder than people think it is.”
One of the things she enjoys about the race is the way she can set small challenges in the midst of the bigger race.
“I made so many mistakes last year that cost me so many seconds,” she said. “I haven’t really found my niche in track, and I think I can make big improvements in the steeplechase.”
Hamilton finished fifth in the event at the U.S. Junior National meet in June and is hoping to qualify for the collegiate regionals this spring.
“How fast am I gonna get?” she said. “That’s all I’m focused on right now.
“Getting a taste of nationals was really cool and I got to see firsthand, ‘Wow, I can really be here.’”