UW-Eau Claire cross country runner and third-year speech language and hearing sciences student Molly Heidorn was chosen as the WIAC Athlete of the Week for Oct. 13-19. 

She achieved this after placing seventh out of 349 runners at the Augustana College Interregional Invitational with a time of 21:57. 

Blugold Cross Country Coach Dan Schwamberger said having a team member such as Keeley Behr finish close behind in 19th may have helped Heidorn place so high. 

So far this semester, the Blugolds have competed in four cross country meets, beginning their season with their host meet, the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Open. 

Heidorn’s accomplishments thus far this season, outside of the invitational, include a third-place finish at the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Open and 15th place at the Blugold Invite. 

Heidorn has not attended the one other meet, the St. Olaf Invitational on Sept. 20, which she said was due to tendonitis. 

“Blugold was my first race back,” Heidorn said. “I felt like at Augustana I was able to have a little bit more confidence with a race under my belt.” 

This was not the first time that Heidorn has dealt with a foot injury while running for the Blugolds, as she had tendonitis last winter and a stress reaction in the summer. 

To go over her history with cross-country, Heidorn said she began running cross country in sixth grade, since her three older siblings had tried cross country, but she was the only one of them to continue cross country in college. 

She also competes in track and field for the Blugolds and used to play basketball in high school but did not continue it into college. 

Heidorn said she chose UW-Eau Claire for a variety of reasons, such as having her major, the beauty of the campus, the size of the town but also the cross country program, which she had connected with before making her decision. 

Heidorn said (Schwamberger) was able to put her in contact with current players and even knew some previous competitors who had chosen UW-Eau Claire, which helped influence her decision. 

“Instead of only seeing you as a runner who’s gonna be scoring points, they see the person behind you and are willing to work with each individual and each training plan,” Heidorn said. 

As far as training during the season, Heidorn said her training plan involves crosstraining twice a week, which can involve the elliptical or an exercise bike on easy days. 

“I think she’s focusing on trying to control the controllables like getting good sleep, being smart and listening to her body and knowing when to push and work out and knowing when to back off,” Schwamberger said. 

Outside of training and competitions, Heidorn said she gets together with her friends and teammates to do team events. 

“We’ll do movie nights or all get together and go to farmers markets together or one-on-one visits to go get coffee or go to the apple orchard,” Heidorn said, “so we’re all very close, and I think a lot of our best friends are each other on the team.”

Heidorn said her motivation for running cross country can be found in her connections with her teammates but especially through her faith. 

“Knowing that none of the works I’m doing are from my strengths but his strength alone,” Heidorn said. 

Heidorn said this relationship has been with her since she started cross country, but has grown stronger through her team and their Bible studies. 

She said the team did studies even before she came, and they were a surprise to her when she joined. 

Schwamberger said he’s seen her grow since her first season. 

“She’s developed a really good routine over the past year that works for her, for school and running, and I think it’s kind of a natural maturation process,” Schwamberger said. 

The Blugolds’ next meet will be the WIAC Championship on Nov. 1 in Oshkosh, WI.

Curtin can be reached at [email protected].