For Julie Friend, she knew at a young age that she wanted to run. “Whenever I was in 8th grade I ran a road race with my uncle who was pretty excited about running at the time. This was the first time I ever competed in a real race.  Soon after, I joined the track team, and from there I decided that I liked to compete and joined the cross country team once I got to high school.” Believe it or not, that’s just the short story of how Julie Friend began her cross country career.

    Julie Friend is a junior cross-country runner for the Vulcans. She’s has had a very decorated career, including qualifying for the NCAA National Championships last season as just a sophomore. Friend said that she was impressed after having toughed out a mentally and physically tough season but didn’t compete the way she quite wanted to. “I plan on changing that this season,” Friend said, determined. She is also one of the top runners for the Vulcan Track and field team in the Spring.

    Friend, who is a Biology/Pre-Med major, says that being able to represent Cal U is special. However, Cal U was not her first choice, mostly because of how close she lived towards the school. “I grew up hearing about it so much that I almost never actually pictured myself going here.            After meeting coach [Daniel Caulfield], I decided to give it a chance and now I’m very happy with my decision.”

With her decision came responsibility to perform well at her position.

   As she continued to perform with success, her leadership status rose as well. Friend noted that there are no captains on the cross country team. However, when decisions need to be made, they go through the coach and the upperclassman [Alex Zanella, Shannon Marsteller, Shannon Bridges, Summer Hill, and Friend]. Even though she’s technically not a captain, her leadership presence is felt on the team. “I personally feel like I lead best by example. I’m not a particularly loud individual but try to make sure that I am the best person that I can be so that I can be a better influence.”

    Friend has placed first in two races this year and second in another continuing to emerge as one of the best Cross Country runners in the PSAC. Coming up next for Friend and her cross country team is the Slippery Rock Mack Cooper Invitational which will be held this weekend, followed by the PSAC Championship two weeks later and qualifiers will go to the NCAA Regional Championship on November 7th.