FARMVILLE, Va. - Longwood University freshman men’s cross country team member Robert Willis/Ashburn is this week’s Longwood Male Athlete of the Week. He ran a team season-best 8K time of 26:42 to finish 71st among 372 runners at the Paul Short Invitational on October 5, leading the Lancers to a 16th-place finish among 46 teams in the Brown race at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Willis’ time for the distance is the second-fastest over the past three seasons. Longwood will race again on Oct. 18 at the Blue Ridge Open hosted by Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
Question and Answer Session with Robert Willis and Ashley Robbins
AR: Talk about being able to lead Longwood in the squad’s most recent meet.
RW: It felt good. I’m relatively inexperienced with the 8K. That was only the second time I ran one, so I just wanted to go out there and just keep passing people. I wanted to stick with Nick (Reed) at the beginning. Then I fell back and Russell (Reed) came by, so I wanted to stick with him and see if I could catch up with the front guys. When I saw Nick in the last lap I just went for it.
AR: What kind of race experience did you have at the large-scale Paul Short Invitational?
RW: I just saw it as an opportunity to give it my best and show people who I am. I compared it to one of my favorite races in high school, a Northern Virginia race with about 50 schools involved. I like having a lot of people in my race because it’s fun.
AR: Did you do anything different this summer to prepare for cross county at the collegiate level?
RW: The mileage increased by about two miles basically. In high school, I was running about eight miles per day, and now it’s about 10 miles a day. So just more distance added on.
AR: What is the biggest difference you see between high school and college?
RW: Our workouts now are usually mile repeats compared to 1,200-meter repeats in high school. We do more endurance-based workouts instead of speed-based workouts.
AR: Who would you consider to be a role model?
RW: I think Bruce Lee would be one. He is a very inspirational guy and he has a good philosophy on life. I could also say Steve Prefontaine because he always wanted to go out there and win. He wanted to be No. 1. I would say both of those guys.
AR: What is a good piece of advice you’ve gotten in your running career?
RW: Don’t go out with the leaders in the first part of the race. That’s a really good piece of advice. Stay back and see how the race plays out in the beginning before trying to push ahead towards the end of the race. That way, you’re speeding up instead of falling back. It’s a much better way to race.
AR: What is a piece of advice you would give to a young athlete hoping to compete in college?
RW: I would just say give it your best in everything you do. Just go out there thinking you want to win and be the best you can be.
AR: Do you have any superstitions before you race?
RW: The night before every race I ice my legs. I also like to watch old race videos. I will listen to a lot of music, too, mostly techno or rock.
AR: What are your goals as an individual and for your team for this season?
RW: As a individual, I would like to continue dropping my times. I want to go and break some school records by my senior year. I also want to advance the school to be better in the Big South Conference. I want to help the other guys to create depth in the team, so we can become better as a whole. I think it’s important to progress as a team and not just as an individual.
