Q: Why do you run?
A: Running has given me my friends, my school and so many experiences I can’t count. If I had to go back and counsel high school freshman Peter, the one thing I would mandate is that he join the cross country team. I feel so blessed by the opportunities it’s given me.
Q: Where are you from, and what is it like there?
A: I’m from Portland, Oregon. Eighty percent of the time it’s raining, and 100 percent of the time it’s hipster. It’s been called “the city where young people go to retire.” Don’t mistake my tone for anything other than infatuation, though. I love Portland, and I hope to end up there some day.
Q: How hipster are you on a scale from one to 10?
A: Being from Portland is really all I’ve got going for me here. But seriously, ask [self-proclaimed 10 on the hipster scale and junior] Christian [Birky] about how hipster I am. I taught him everything he knows.
Q: What is the greatest highlight of your sports career?
A: I didn’t think there was anything that could top the 2004 basketball season. Undefeated fourth grade Catholic Youth Organization city champions, baby. But getting fourth at the Wisconsin [Invitational] last weekend and breaking into the top 10 in the NCAA polls was pretty special. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to accomplish our season goals though. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.
Q: Do you have any strange pre-race rituals?
A: Anything I said here would pale in comparison to [junior] Peter Callahan’s rituals. The inside of that dude’s head is a scary place come race time.
Q: What was your “Welcome to College” moment?
A: When I arrived at our team training camp in Park City, Utah, this past summer, freshman Sam “Slampons” Pons answered the door. Before he even greeted me, he said, ‘Welcome to college. Top bunk, bitch.’
Q: What’s the best part about being a cross country runner?
A: Let’s just say that the cross country team has quite the reputation with the female Princeton population ... nevermind, who am I kidding?
Q: Which teammate has the most game off the track or course?
A: Probably [junior] Michael Palmisano. Also, [sophomore] Alejandro “Gaga was singing about me” Arroyo Yamin. Girls don’t really stand a chance against that sensuous Mexican fashionista to begin with, but once he opens his mouth and they hear his accent, it’s really game over. At least it was for me.
Q: Does the team have any odd rituals?
A: I don’t know if showering counts as a ritual.
Q: Who is your quirkiest teammate and why?
A: Hands down, [senior pole-vaulter] Dave Slovenski. He’s the world record holder in the unicycle pole vault and the 60-meter hand stand dash. He’s also the co-inventor of the patented zip-and-slide. Look it up. I lived with him last year, and I can count on one hand the number of nights I WASN’T asked to play flaming dodgeball, monster golf or laser tag.
Q: What are your team’s most popular conversation topics?
A: We like to talk about easy cross country courses and states that never should have been admitted to the Union.
Q: Why are those seemingly meaningless topics so popular?
A: Half the team is from New Jersey and they won’t shut up about their state and the grass track of a state-meet course they call “Holmdel.”
Q: Which state is better: Oregon or New Jersey?
A: I effing hate Jersey.
Q: What do you like to do when you’re not running?
A: [Senior co-captain] Donn Cabral and I are known to get demolished by men three times our age in competitive beach volleyball tournaments. We’re 0-6, but everything points to a bright future.
Q: Where do you find time to practice your volleyball skills?
A: Our main training methods are sleeping at altitude and playing small ball in the room.
Q: What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?
A: Anything that’s also on [junior] George Galasso’s iPod. That dude listens to some GRIMY beats. Some would say the grimiest.
Q: What is it that George has on his iPod?
A: Wub, Wub, Wub. Waaa. Waaa. Wub Wub.
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