Garrett Stickley '24 Recruiting Profile

My goal for college is to eventually place well in an NCAA championship race. I want to run 28:20 for the 10k and 13:45 for the 5k. My other goal for college is to leave with an engineering degree that will help set me up for a promising job after college. My style of running is aggressive, and I've never been the type to sit and kick. I'm the type of runner to lead a race and push the pace. What makes me different from other recruits is that I'm not afraid to be hurt, and I will do everything I can to be the best runner I can be. Before I ran year-round, I was a wrestler. During my sophomore season, I wanted to wrestle in the 120 lbs weight class but wasn't good enough to be varsity at that spot, so I had to cut down to 113 lbs. I was normally 117 lbs during cross country season, but after cross country ended, I bumped up to around 122 lbs normally because I wasn't constantly running. To make weight, I had to skip meals, wrestle with a hoodie on in an 80-degree room, and sweat out 4 lbs each day just to gain it all back that night for 3 months. I ended up going to regionals and could've made it to States if I didn't have a bad day. I've always been mentally tough but this pushed me past my limits and made me a tougher human being. This experience helped me to grow as a person by giving me this mentality that pain is temporary, but being great will last forever. This translates over to running because now I'm willing and disciplined to do what I need to do in order to be great, and I will not settle for being anything less than great. Not only in running but in every aspect of my life including academics, I push myself to be the best I can be, and so far it has paid off. I hope that in college I can be molded into the runner I know I'm capable of being.