Senior Distance Runner
Stephanie Deever will always remember qualifying for the Big Sky Championship 5k race as a sophomore.
True, she was thrilled at clocking a fast enough time to qualify. But that isn’t what really stands out in her memory.
Deever qualified by 15 seconds. No one expected her to qualify and the team really got into her race.
“It’s a long race (25 laps) and every time I came around they had a new cheer. They even did the wave. It’s the only time I’ve seen the wave at a track meet,” she recalled, laughing at the recollection and mimicking the arms in the air motion.
Then, there was the time as a junior when she cut a minute and a half off her personal record (PR) in cross country.
“In high school I ran a 20. 06, not really great, and I really didn’t think I’d break 20 (minutes in a 5k cross county race). Then last year, I beat it by a minute and a half. I was really excited because you usually break your personal best by a few seconds… but here I am running at 18. 5 minutes. I was very excited,” she said.
And one of the first people she called was Max White, her high school coach at West Albany High School, who she credits with grounding her well enough in distance running basics that she was a four-year letter winner in cross country, three-year letter winner in track and an all conference pick in high school.
White wasn’t surprised to hear about the new PR and doesn’t expect it to be her last.
“She’s a very focused, enthusiastic, energetic person. She has pretty good leg speed, and it’s still early in her career,” White said. Runners often hit their peak later than other athletes, he added.
Looking at her new PR, Deever was struck by how easy it seemed at the time.
Assistant Track and Field Coach
Kevin Jeffers thinks Deever’s interest in becoming a doctor helped.”Her pre-med training has paid off in that she understands nutrition and other health issues,” he said.
That attention to physical detail also stands out in Deever’ mind.
“I put in a lot of extra time training and did the right things. I was icing every day (very important for a runner), eating right, eating enough and getting enough sleep,” she said.
Also said Jeffers, Deever has a good idea of how to run (thanks again, Max White).
“Coaches like to say that running is 90 percent mental. You have to believe in what you are doing. She has confidence in what she does. She has a strong work ethic,” he said.
Looking at how Deever has balanced a multitude of activities while at PSU, you might determine that “strong” doesn’t cut it.
Somehow, Deever has balanced distance running, volunteering at Dohrenbecher Children’s Hospital (she wants to be a pediatrician), volunteering in a pediatrician’s office, working at the Running Store (‘they’ve been very good about being flexible”) and carrying a 3.8 grade point average in microbiology, in preparation for applying to medical school. She currently has applied to 14 schools, “we’ll see who takes me,” Deever adds. It’s no surprise that she’s earned Big Sky All Academic Honors each year she’s run.
Because of an especially demanding anatomy class, Deever is taking a break from volunteering in the neo-natal intensive care and the ninth floor acute care units at Dohrenbecher this year.
Her demanding academic curriculum has always required a regular drumbeat of tests and quizzes and she remembered as a sophomore, having a quiz faxed to her hotel room at a meet. It was administered by the coaching staff.
It was hectic at first, she admits, “but now that I’m a senior I’ve found a pretty good balance. I understand that you need down time, too. Everyone… my teachers and coaches… have been very helpful so things haven’t been too stressful. And it could be very stressful.”
Jeffers said he really admires “the way she’s able to balance working, volunteering, running at an elite level and her school work. She balances everything and doesn’t short any of them,” he said.
Deever’ interest in running is the product of watching her father Kelly Deever run marathons.”Mom and I would follow along to various places on the route and hand him food and water. Then I started running in kids races while he ran the marathon,” she said.
After high school, her running career went on the shelf so she could focus on her classes.
“I wasn’t going to run in college… at least not in my first year since I was doing pre-med and I knew college would be a difficult change,” Deever said.”Then I started to train for the Portland Marathon and my mom (Rosmary Deever) said why not call the PSU track coach to see if there was still a spot open. I did and he said ‘sure, come on and join the team’.”
It’s the competition that draws her to running, competition with herself.
“I love competing against my self. I set a goal, then push myself every day. It’s very satisfying when you reach that goal. It’s a personal thing, going against yourself; you learn your limits and are continually pushing them,” she said.
She had been recruited by Jeffers out of high school, “but somehow I never could find time to take a recruiting trip to campus.” She was considering PSU and Seattle Pacific but is pleased to be a Viking.
Deever said she likes everything about PSU. She likes living in the city. She likes the travel as well to places she hadn’t been like Louisiana, New Mexico, Montana and Colorado.”The coaches here treat you as a person, not just an athlete,” she said.
And this last year has been among the most satisfying as a team member.
“Even though distance running requires individual effort, cross country is a team sport because we get team points depending on where we finish. You can have individual team members competing with each other. But this year, our whole team is working together. We’re trying to make each other better and that’s the way it should be,” she said, perhaps there’s another track meet “wave” in her future.
Jeffers said he thinks Deever will make a “very good doctor because she’s extremely passionate about helping people. She’s passionate about everyone on the team.”
Photo Credit: Dale Garvey
