This summer, senior and mid-distance track and field athlete Emma Barnes made her verbal commitment to the Union College Track and Field team where she will be running on the college stage next year. Union College is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III school just outside of Albany in upstate New York.
Barnes described her excitement for participating in college athletics, and said that she is “Looking forward to the team environment…It’s almost similar to Masters in the way that everybody’s super close and tight knit, and I’m really excited to be part of such a big team.”
One of Barnes’ track coaches and Upper School Math Teacher Ian Mook, said, “It’s not an easy journey, and I think college track in particular becomes way more time-intensive. You’re doing fall, winter and spring training, and it’s a long year, so I hope she’s able to stay consistent, healthy, motivated and make good connections with her teammates.”
However, college-level track hasn’t always been the plan for Barnes. “I didn’t plan on trying to run track in college, so it was kind of a decision I made at the end of last year,” Barnes said.
Barnes also explained what the process was like connecting with coaches. “I just reached out to some coaches, I was talking to about five of them, and Union was the school that stood out to me most for sure. I loved the coach, campus and really everything about it, so the decision wasn’t really that hard to make,” she said.
Despite Barnes’ track success, it hasn’t always been her number one sport. In addition to track, Barnes plays soccer and basketball, and her commitment to multiple sports has also had many benefits. “There are a lot of fitness aspects and for my position in soccer specifically, it’s a lot of stop and go, like running and sprinting,” she said.
Mook added that being a multi-sport athlete has not only benefited Barnes’ physical abilities, but also her competitive mindset. He said, “I learned one thing about Emma as a racer: she is just so very competitive. You can tell she’s a multi-sport athlete. She’s a soccer player, a basketball player and in those sports she has learned about the value of teamwork and fighting tooth and nail to win, and that shows up in track.”
