Kentucky track and cross country athletes Cally Macumber and Chelsea Oswald have had a season to remember. In their first year competing for a new coach staff, Macumber and Oswald were both All-Americans in cross country and are days removed from finishing first and fifth, respectively, in the 3,000-meter race at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships.This week, Running Times interviewed them both about their success and their relationship. Here’s an excerpt.
RT: You went 1-3 at SECs (in cross country) and then 1-3 again at the Southeast Regional, pretty remarkable. And then you got to return to Louisville for Nationals. What was your goal going in? Was it All-American (top 40)? Top 20? What were you thinking?CM: I really had no idea how it would go because I’d never been to a national competition. If I wanted to be All-American I knew I had to be top 40 but in the back of my mind I was thinking maybe top ten. But again I had no idea what to expect. And I was really nervous but it turned out well.RT: The indoor season has been more of the same — running at a higher level than previous track seasons and seeing your names up among the best in the country. You’ve both raced three times indoors and have set personal bests. Can you keep improving?CM: Obviously there was a lot of momentum at the end of cross country season and we didn’t really want to take a break, but we did take a week off and then kind of picked up where we left off. I feel I can definitely improve because I’ve finished all my races feeling that I have more to give.RT: Both of you will be back for two seasons during the 2013-2014 academic year, Cally for cross country and outdoor track and Chelsea for both indoor and outdoor track but not cross country. You’re obviously a successful training duo and must be looking forward to keeping this going a while longer, right?CO: We both have our strengths and our weaknesses, but luckily my strengths are her weaknesses and her strengths are my weaknesses. So we definitely complement each other a lot. We’re both very competitive people, but we don’t get upset with each other if one of us does better than the other. Everyone has good days and bad days. I’m done with cross country but I’ll definitely be back and ready for action on the track.
