Alexandria Palm hopes to make this season her best yet. The NSU women’s cross country and track athlete is a hard worker and a fast runner.
Palm is a native of Winnebago, Illinois. She is a third year nursing student and is captain of the women’s cross country team.
No stranger to cross country, Palm has been an active runner since she was in secondary school. She ran cross country and track at Winnebago High School. Where she posted her best times of 18:18 and 2:19 minutes for the 5K and 800M run.
She helped lead her high school team to four consecutive State Championships and was given All-State honors all four years.
Palm also ran track for the Rockford Wildcats club team and lead them to a 21st place finish at Nationals.
In her first season at NSU, Palm rewrote the record books, posting the school’s best times in the 5K and 6K meets en route to the team’s best finish in the South Region.
All five of her 5K races rank in the top-20 all time at NSU, entering the 2011 season, with the best coming at the Walt Disney World Classic with a time of 18:27 minutes.
Moreover, Palm is the only runner in NSU history to finish a 6K in less than 22:50 minutes, recording a time of 22:39 minutes at the NCAA South Regional Championship and set the school record of 22:03 minutes at the Sunshine State Conference Championship.
During her sophomore year, Palm continued to excel, finishing ninth out of 269 runners at the Walt Disney World Classic , with a finishing time of 18:56 minutes in the 5K.She finished 28th out of 208 runners at the Mountain Dew Invitational with a time 18:56.23 minutes in the 5k and sixth out of 53 runners at the Sunshine-State-Conference Championships 23:03 minutes in the 6k.
This season, Palm hopes to become even more successful and lead her team to a first place finish in the SSC Championships.
I sat down and talked to Alexandria:
What do you enjoy about running?
I enjoy the challenges. It’s not an easy sport. It teaches you a little bit about your strengths and how tough you are. It is also different than other sports in that your environment changes when you run.
How did you get into cross country?
My fifth grade teacher was also my school cross country coach. He talked me into trying out and I have ran ever since.
What type of music pumps you up before you run?
I definitely like music that is upbeat and motivating and makes you ready to go.
What school gives you the most competition in cross country?
Our number one rival is the University of Tampa. The women’s team always gives us a run for our money.
What keeps you running? What do you think about when you are running?
What keeps me going is my goal. You think about conference, regionals and nationals and getting there.
What makes you a better runner than others?
I would say my work ethic that motivates me the most and succeeding in what I am doing.
