The Student
Experience
With Student Aid, Runner Hits Her Stride at GW By Gray Turner Every morning at 6 am, while most of her classmates are still sleeping in their dorm rooms, GW senior Megan Hogan is starting her eight-mile morning run. An All Mid-Atlantic Regional runner and National Qualifier in 2008 for the Colonials, Megan is on the rise as a national cross country star. A varsity athlete in soccer and basketball and a member of the dance team at her high school in Saratoga Springs, NY, Megan joined her school’s cross country team to fill out the roster and stay in shape for basketball. After only a single season of running, she was recruited to join the cross country team of a small college in New York, but never felt quite at home there. “I had a friend a few years older than me from high school that went to GW and would always tell me how great the school was. My old college wasn’t the right fit for me, so I looked into transferring to GW and came here my sophomore year. It’s a decision I would never change.” Thanks to the opportunity provided by scholarship support, Megan has come into her own at GW; a place where her ambitions and talent have flourished. She takes the opportunity to heart and trains daily with the team and on her own time. Running more than 70 miles a week, Megan has to eat 3,000-5,000 calories a day to stay at her running weight of 104 pounds. “I get to eat ice cream every day, and I love it,” she admits. “I’ve tried every flavor of Ben & Jerry’s and even get their e-mails about updates and new flavors. Cinnamon Buns is my favorite.” Although she has not been running as long as many of her competitors, Megan has quickly made a name for herself as a part of GW’s cross country team. In addition to being named the 2009 Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Cross Country Student-Athlete of the year, she recently earned AllAmerican status – a first for a Colonial runner.
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In October 2009, senior Megan Hogan became the first Colonial cross country runner to win the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. “The coaches here are great,” she said. “They’re a mix of mentor and drill sergeant, and they are constantly motivating us to achieve. I feel like my coaches have more faith in me than I do.” After nearly qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team during competition in June of this year with a time just 0.23 seconds off the mark, Megan approaches running with a new sense of desire and purpose. On October 31 she became the first GW cross country runner to win the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. She’s now looking forward to the U.S. Championships, her next chance to qualify for the Olympic team, and is hoping her running will catch the interest of a sponsor.
She credits the motivation of her coaches and the support of her teammates with all her successes. Like many athletes at GW, Megan’s team has been an avenue for discipline, focusing her talents and keeping her inspired to run further and faster, as well as a support system away from home. For Megan, the cross country team is more than a group of running buddies. All of her closest friends are on the team, and assistant coach Jenni Schappert, a graduate student at GW, is like a big sister to her. “Everyone is really supportive of each other,” said Megan. “I can’t imagine what my time here would be like without them. This team is my family.”