UA’s Hill gearing up for 5,000 at NCAAs
For Tyler Hill, this is just what the doctor ordered.
Especially since he's the wannabe doctor that ordered it.
The University of Arkansas fifthyear senior pre-med student / Razorback runner makes his first NCAA Men's Indoor Track Championship his last, running in Friday night's 5, 000 meters at the UA's Randal Tyson Indoor Track.
The UA hosts both the NCAA Men's and Women's Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
"I'm super excited to finally make it, especially on my last try," Hill, a native of Baton Rouge, La., said. "This is the meet I came up here to watch my sophomore year in high school. It got tougher just being here and watching it. Now it's a dream come true to be actually toeing a line in it."
Hill's dream came true during this indoor season's Razorback nightmare.
His meeting NCAA 5, 000-meter qualifying standards with a 13: 57. 07 personal record was one of the few bright spots for John McDonnell's Razorbacks at last month's Tyson Invitational, where the Hogs traditionally excel.
Hill's PR got lost in the shuffle. He was fifth in a mostly worldclass professional field headed by former Razorback great Alistair Cragg popping a 2008 world's best 13: 32. 01.
It rendered Hill a distant alsoran even as he ran the time of his life. And McDonnell wasn't in the best of moods anyway with so many performing sub-par.
"Coach didn't say a whole lot to me after that race," Hill said. "He walked up to me, looked at his watch and said, ' Aw, you can run faster. ."
McDonnell later was all smiles with Hill and the team at the SEC Indoor Championships. The Razorbacks repeated as SEC team champs. Hill did his part, contributing 13 team points with a second in the 3, 000 and fourth in the 5, 000.
"That was a huge double," Hill said. "I was a little disappointed with the fourth place, but I was definitely excited to see I was only a second off my Tyson 5 K time after putting it out there really hard in the 3, 000 the night before."
Experience and fifth-year senior incentive no doubt have helped pushed Hill to climb new heights this year.
It sure hasn't been his schedule. He's spent more time running for med school than for track.
"I've missed a lot of practices interviewing for med schools," Hill said. "Most of the interviews are Monday and Tuesday. After a lot of meets or on off weekends I have been traveling. So I miss two or three days of practice at least each time.
"Coach wasn't exactly the happiest about it, but he said, ' Kid, this is your future. You've got to take care of it. '"
McDonnell knows the drill. He's coached distance running / pre-med majors before including former NCAA champion and U. S. World Championship team steeplechaser Daniel Lincoln.
"Daniel Lincoln kind of set the precedent with me," Hill said. "I've trained with him. Coach Mac talks about him and Mark Andersen [a doctor who ran for the Razorbacks in the 1970 s ] all the time."
Now accepted at the A. T. Still Medical School in Kirksville, Mo., Hill said he's ready to operate on the track. Five years training under McDonnell have changed him from the recruited walk-on to a national qualifier - a qualifier from Baton Rouge unnoticed by LSU even with his father a LSU grad and football letterman.
"I grew up with purple and gold my whole life," Hill said. "But when it came to distance running, LSU is not very strong in that and they didn't give a hoot about me. It excited me so much to get a phone call from Coach John McDonnell."
Now Hill said he feels worthy for this 5, 000 of getting that call from the coach of 43 NCAA champion cross country, indoor and outdoor track teams.
"I think Josh McDougal, the kid from Liberty who won cross at Nationals, is probably the big favorite," Hill said. "Other than him, I feel I can go head-to-head with anyone in that field."
McDonnell counts on points from the 5, 000 with Razorbacks James Strang, Chris Barnicle and Hill gunning for top-eight scoring places.
"It's kind of a new feeling for me," Hill said. "Sad to say it's taken five years to feel this way. I was expected to step up at Conference and get big points. I like the feeling."
Though seventh last year and not ranked No. 1 now, the Razorbacks believe they will contend strongly for this NCAA Indoor Arkansas has won 19 times.
"I know we all have to run amazing, but we did it at conference," Hill said. "I think we can shock some people again."
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