Michael Speciale '18 Recruiting Profile

Hello coaches!

My name is Michael Speciale and I am in the graduating class of 2018 here in Hilton New York! I am currently a junior and I run as a varsity member of the Hilton cadets as well as the team captain. I hope to improve my times significantly over the next two years and I would love to run at the collegiate level simply because I don't want my cross country season to end my senior year of high school. I love the sport too much to stop.

Before 7th grade I didn't even know what cross country was or what it entailed. I showed up to practice on the first day and sat in awe at the two team captains and their motivation. My very first meet I placed somewhere in the range of 70th out of 80 runners. I was crushed and I only wanted to improve so I made a plan and stuck with it. I ran two times a day every day and by my freshman year, I was a top scorer of my team. I know that all the 4:30am wake ups and the midnight track workouts have payed off because the only way to become better at running, is to run.  

Thus far, the best moment of my running career was in my sophomore season of cross country. My team was going through a rough patch and we had lost our motivation. Something needed to be done, so I had organized a meeting in a conference room at the hotel we were staying at. I had the whole team sit around a large table and I had each of the underclassmen say one thing they liked about our team and one thing we could improve. We stayed in that conference room from 8 until 11 at night talking about what we could do to be more of a team. That very next day was the best race of our season, every single member on the team got a personal record.

My philosophy on and off the track is; If you aren't trying your hardest, why bother trying at all?

I appreciate you taking the time to view my profile and I hope to hear from you soon!

-Michael Speciale