As a child junior Ben Schmiege said he can remember watching the track team practice at the grade school that was near his home. Although, he wasn’t old enough to participate, he still found an interest in the sport.

That interest followed him through grade school, where he ran on the same track he had watched from a distance.

Today, Schmiege has been running track for 11 years. He ran track for four years before high school, four years in high school and is in his third year of competition at UW-Eau Claire.

As a senior in high school he was conference champion in cross country and holds the school record in the 1600-meter and the 4 x 800-meter relay. He was also the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association state champion in the 4 x 800-meter relay.

At Eau Claire, Schmiege runs the 800-meter, 1500-meter, 3000-meter and the distance medley relay during indoor track. During the outdoor season he runs the 800-meter and the 1500-meter. Schmiege said his favorite event is the 1500-meter.

“It is a blend of speed and endurance that fits my talent the best,” he said.

In his track and cross country career thus far he has captured some great achivements but there’s one specific event that sticks out in his mind.

“My biggest accomplishment was the weekend before spring break when I ran the 1600-meter anchor leg of the Distance Medley relay that placed third at NCAA nationals,” Schmiege said.

Track and distance medley relay teammate sophomore Jordan Klein said Schmiege really helped pull out the victories for the relay team.

“He’s one of the older guys on the DMR (distance medley relay) and his leadership helped pull us through,” he said.

Although he has accomplished a lot in 11 years of running, he still has a list of goals he would some day like to meet.

“For this outdoor season I would like to qualify as an individual in the 1500-meter,” he said. “Futher down the line in my running career, I would like to run under 4:10 in the mile.”

As for cross country, he said a big goal for the team is to make it to nationals next fall.

Klein said although he doesn’t practice with Schmiege, he still sees him working hard.

“When we’re doing our workouts, he’s usually out in front pulling the team with him, which makes him a great leader for the distance team,” Klein.

Schmiege has been named Athlete of the Week twice by the WIAC. He recieved the honor by being the top individual finisher for the Blugolds at the Eastbay Invitational, which was held at Stevens Point. He took home second place in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:43.87, which was a mere one second behind the first place finisher.

At the next meet, the Bowlus Invitational which was hosted by UW-Stout, Schmiege was able to come out on top in the 1500-meter run.

Then, at the Blue Devil Open, again at UW-Stout, he grabbed another first place win in the 1500-meter run.

To be able to pull out first place finishes Schmiege said he trains hard and runs year-round.

“Most weeks I run seven days a week,” he said. “Usually every three weeks or so I take a day off. Since I also run cross country, I pretty much run year round.”

Schmiege said the biggest physical and mental obstacle he faces is pushing himself to the limits.

“The biggest challenge of track is learning to train your mind to push your body further than you think it can go and sometimes failing.”

Distance teammate senior Nick Hardt said he believes Schmiege pushes himself to be a hard worker, as well as a competitive runner.

“He’s someone we can always count on,” Hardt said. “He’s a hard worker not only on the track field but in school too. He’s always in the library, and sometimes he has labs so he gets forced to practice by himself a lot.”

Hardt said he feels that Schmiege’s as equal a person as he is an athlete.

“He’s definitely a great guy,” Hardt said. “Everyone enjoys him and he inspires us in many ways.”