Getting to Know Jeff Edmondson
9/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
Sept. 18, 2013
RollTide.com caught up with each new member of the track and cross country team to find out more about them. We lead off with freshman Jeff Edmondson, a product of Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., who was a member of a relay unit that earned prep all-America honors four times.
What are you looking forward to most about being a member of the team?
I'm really excited to hang out with everyone and get to know everyone. I'm also really excited to work on getting better.
How did your family react to your college decision?
They were supportive. It's very different because both of my parents went to James Madison University in Virginia, and my older sister went there, too. So I'm the first person in my family to not go there and I'm also 12 hours away from home.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
My biggest athletic accomplishment would probably be winning the Penn Relays with my 4x800-meter team. That was exciting. The next year we came in second by less than one second. That was a bummer, but it was still really great to go there and compete.
What has been the biggest adjustment you've had to make as a college athlete?
I didn't run this big of mileage in high school. I've probably doubled it by jumping to D-1, so that's the biggest adjustment. I've never done two-a-days in my life, and now I'm doing two, sometimes three, a week.
What is one weakness that you'd like to improve moving forward?
My racing mentality needs to sharpen. My senior year races weren't the best they could be. I guess I wasn't mentally focused, so fixing that and getting into a racing mindset since it's a very mental sport.
Have you decided on a major?
I'm in engineering right now.
Is there any other athlete, either professional or collegiate, that inspires you?
My dad was a collegiate athlete. I don't necessarily look up to him because of his athletics, but I look up to him. But he was a collegiate athlete in archery at JMU.
Aside from track, what is your favorite sport?
Basketball. I played basketball for nine years before track.
Athletes have strict diet regimens, but if there is one food or drink you cannot live without, what is it?
Chocolate milk.
What's on your iPod right now?
Some Rock music. The Killers or Phoenix.
