The Nevada Sagebrush

Martinez battles through injuries to become leader on cross country team

By: Lukas Eggen

Monday, November 23, 2009 - 10:32 PM

Nevada cross country team member Janet Martinez. Photo by Brian Bolton/The Nevada Sagebrush

At the beginning of the semester, junior Janet Martinez was coming off a strong cross country season. During her sophomore campaign, She competed in four races for the Wolf Pack and was one of Nevada’s top runners. She finished 20th at the Western Athletic Conference Championships and was Nevada’s third finisher at the NCAA Mountain Regional, establishing herself as a team leader.

“She’s got a ton of talent,” cross country head coach Kirk Elias said. “When she’s on, she’s one of the best athletes in the conference and she’s shown that repeatedly.”

But a twisted ankle and chronic tightness in her calves stopped her from competing in the first third of the season’s six races. And missing races was something that Martinez had trouble accepting.

“It sucked. I wanted to be running,” Martinez said. “I felt like every day that I didn’t run I was being held back. I wanted to train, but I just couldn’t.”

But Martinez refused to just sit and watch from the sidelines. Although she couldn’t race, she cross-trained as much as possible to stay in shape.

“I did mostly hard bike workouts every single day,” Martinez said. “Then, when we had hard workouts on the track, I’d do those and do the bike the next day to recover.”

And her hard work paid off. At the WAC Preview Open, her first race of the season, she finished seventh overall. Two races later at the WAC Championship Race, Martinez finished 11th overall and was named second team all-WAC.

“Janet worked really hard in her cross-training,” Elias said. “And obviously it showed that she was able to get a pretty good level of fitness.”

Martinez’s season culminated at the six-kilometer NCAA Mountain Regional Championships, where she was Nevada’s top finisher at the race in 61st place overall.

Martinez’s teammate Jordan Burke said Martinez possesses that extra ability necessary to compete at a high level.

“She has that natural talent that’s always there,” Burke said. “Even if she’s not training hardcore all the time, she can still perform really well and be one of our top runners.”

Although Martinez’s season may have been shorter than she wanted, she is part of a core group of runners that hopes to push Nevada’s cross country team to the next level.

But for that to happen, Martinez will need to stay healthy, Elias said.

“We need Janet,” Elias said. “She’s one of the key athletes for this team.”

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.