By Ally Ruiz

Staff Writer

Senior Kelly Thompson, a kinesiology major, is a prestigious runner on the CSUSM women’s cross-country team. The women’s cross-country team has won national titles the past three years.

Q: What got you started in cross-country?
A: I started running when I was in the eighth grade because my friend did it and at the time I was playing soccer, so I decided to join and in high school I did it, and ever since then, I just loved it.

Q: What made you do it in college?
A: It was a last minute decision that I wanted to run in college. My high school coach pushed me into doing it. In the beginning, I did it just because I’ve been doing it my whole life, but after my first year of running in college, I knew I made a good decision and I was going to stay running for all four years.

Q: How is the team doing this year?
A: From last year to this year, we’ve lost 4 of our top 7 girls, which we thought would hurt our team but we’ve had a lot of girls step up. Our team is looking much stronger. Going into this season, we made a goal to get in the top 3 at nationals. We always shoot for winning and as this season continues to progress, I think we will be able to win again.

Q: How is your 1 through 7?
A: We’re looking pretty strong, the top 5 runners are what they count for at nationals, the top 5 go into the score, and our top 5 is looking really strong, even our top 10 is really strong, spots are still open, but we are strong team.

Q: How have you personally been improving since last season?
A: Since last season, I’ve definitely improved. This past race in Santa   Clara, I ran my personal best which was 17:17 for the 5K. My time has improved, the work outs have improved, and overall I’m just a stronger runner than last year.