Poudre High School senior a natural-born runner

May 13, 2009

By Brenda Rader Mross
The Wellington

Track star. Like the impala behind her, Poudre High School senior Meagan Robinson loves speed. She will run for Colorado State University next year. Photo by Brenda Rader Mross

The ability to run fast runs in the Robinson family.

An award-winning sprinter and relay runner since her first official race in the 2001 Poudre School District Elementary Track Meet, Meagan Robinson said she’s really just taking the baton from her father.

“My dad was a runner,” Meagan said of Kent Robinson, a police officer for the Fort Collins Police Department. “He was so proud when I told him CSU offered me a tuition scholarship to run for them next year. He didn’t have any words.”

Meagan said while her dad likewise attended Colorado State University, he did not run for the Rams.

“I’m so excited to go to the next level in school and track,” Meagan exclaimed. “I didn’t believe it myself about the scholarship at first. It’s just so rare for a freshman.”

Which makes it even cooler that fellow Impala senior and relay runner Jessie Evitt will also be wearing the Green and Gold next year. Meagan said Jessie and the rest of the Poudre 800-medley relay team, Teghan Delude and Emerald Damge, are like the sisters she never had. The close times they have shared are among Meagan’s fondest memories.
The foursome placed sixth last year at the Class 5A state meet, so Meagan is excited about this year’s competition May 14 through 16. Meagan also runs a leg in the 4x100 relay. Both relay teams hold school records.

“My hopes for state,” Meagan said modestly, “are just to get there. I really hope our relay team places again like we did the last two years. Personally, I’d like to be somewhere in the top nine.”

Meagan has competed at state four years running. She qualified individually for state last year in the 400-meter run but didn’t make it to the finals. The rules have changed for 2009: To earn a berth this year, runners must have posted one of the top 18 times during the regular season. It used to be that athletes had to be one of the top three finishers at regionals to qualify for state.

Poudre track coach Gina Holley said Meagan has already posted top-18 times in both the 100- and 200-meter races, and near the top 10 in the 100.

“I knew she had talent the first day of the season her freshman year,” recalled Holley, an English teacher at PHS. “Meagan was just hungry for competition. I knew that she would not only find success on the track, but that she would also develop into a leader for the underclassmen runners.”

Holley called track a grueling sport that takes heart, something she thinks can be even more important than talent. Meagan possesses both. PHS head coach Mark Faulkner concurred, saying Meagan has a good work ethic and a passion for track.

“I’m excited to see in her last year what she can really do,” Faulkner said.

While Holley, now in her 12th season at Poudre, said she personally loves the 400, Meagan’s favorite race is the 200.
“The 100 is too short and the 400 is too long,” the 17-year-old said with a laugh. “I love coming off the last curve and getting that kick to the finish.”

Meagan describes herself as a better finisher, and compares the feeling behind “that kick” to a slingshot or microburst.
“It’s really a floating feeling, I guess, where I’m completely at peace,” she explained. “Mentally, you just let go. Time stops. It’s almost like an out-of-body experience.”

Sprinters have what Meagan called fast-twitch muscles, enabling them to turn it on during a dash, whereas cross country runners and marathoners are gifted with slow-twitch muscles.

“I can’t run long distances,” lamented Meagan. “What am I going to do after college?”

A self-professed science geek, Meagan is thinking about a career combining psychology and sports medicine after hanging up her cleats.

“I’d really like to stick around here and work with high school athletes,” Meagan said. “Fort Collins is the perfect town. Why would I leave?”

Not when she’s got two younger brothers — Michael’s in sixth grade at Eyestone and Justin’s a WJHS seventh-grader — following in her footsteps. Justin, in fact, is running track this year for the Eagles.

“Really, they’re the reason I’m staying here,” Meagan said. “I love my brothers and want to be involved in their lives.”
Meagan wasn’t much younger than her brothers are now when she realized that she was born to run.

“It hit me in the fourth grade,” Meagan recalled. “I kept up with all the boys; even beat them sometimes. On the soccer field, they would warn each other, ‘Watch out; she’s fast!’”

Being able to tear after balls proved helpful in snagging a spot as an outfielder on the Impala varsity softball team last fall.

Like most of her peers, this multi-talented athlete is looking forward to commencement on May 23. Unlike some, Meagan confesses to actually “liking school and loving learning.”

She also adores food, and claims she recently “out-ate” three football players in cooking class. Her reading tastes are similarly diverse, while her very favorite thing to do is relax and be out in nature, hanging out with family and close friends.

Family is so important to Meagan that she plans to live off-campus next year, alternating between staying at home and with her grandparents.

Mom Rhonda Robinson works in the kitchen at the junior high.

“My parents have supported me with everything, no questions asked,” Meagan said. “If I decided to all of a sudden dump track and become a ballerina, they’d say, ‘Be the best ballerina.’”