Stephen Payne is Back After Two Years Off from Competition
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
Nov. 5, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - After taking a few years off from competitive running, freshman Stephen Payne is back in the sport. Payne ran high school cross country and track at powerhouse Hoover High School before quitting the sport his freshman year in college.
Payne felt the urge to run again a year later so he started running a few miles every other day and eventually got his mileage back up. After a few local road races and improving his 5,000 meter personal record by one minute, he decided to come out for the team at Alabama.
"I just felt lazy and out of shape so I started running a few miles every other day my sophomore year," Payne said. "Off of not much training, I set a new personal record by a minute in the 5k, so I decided to come out for the team. Coach Walker and the guys have made it easy and enjoyable to be back on a team again."
Since joining the Crimson Tide, he has continued to improve under the coaching staff and running with the No. 5 team in the country. Payne improved his 8,000 meter time by over 40 seconds after just running the distance twice.
Payne has tried to apply a quote from his high school coach Devon Hind to everything in life, especially running and it has worked out so far.
"He always said, `The harder you work, the better you'll be.'," Payne said. "It's so basic, yet true."
While at Hoover, Payne was a member of the No. 1 Southeast cross country team as ranked by Nike Team Nationals in 2004. His high school team was 6A State Champions in 2002, 2004 and 2005 as well as outdoor track State Champions in 2005.
Payne has a goal to travel with the team to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. this year. He will need to be one of the top seven members on the team to make the trip. As of right now, he is running in the top seven and will at least get one more chance to prove he deserves the spot when the squad travels to Knoxville, Tenn. to compete at the NCAA South Regional. Alabama is the defending Region Champions and they will defend their title in two weeks.
