One of Coronado’s top senior student-athletes, Chloe Cassens, recently verbally committed to Creighton University for cross country and track! Creighton is located in Omaha, Nebraska and is a NCAA Division I school.

As of now, Cassens is the fourth 2018 senior to be signed to with a DI sport this year, joining Mara Abernethy, AJ Cosley, and Brock Stinson; at this level she will be competing with the best of the best in the collegiate running community!

Chloe answered a few questions about choosing Creighton University and going DI:

Q: Why did you decide to run at the collegiate level?

A: “Honesty, I wanted to see how far I could push myself. This last cross country season I broke 19, something I thought would never happen. Now I wonder if I could ever break 18, or at least get close. I also wanted to run in college because it’s a great way to find community. I already text some of the girls on the team fairly often! And now that everything is finalized I feel my position as a runner will help make my transition into college a little smoother. I know I have people who are looking out for me.”

Q: What does Creighton have that you are looking for both academically and athletically that stood out against that rest of the colleges you were looking at?

A: “They have a heavy priority on academics. Yes they want all their athletes to do well but they want you to excel as a student first. This feeling of academics coming first is felt throughout the whole community despite what else your involved in. The students at Creighton all have a drive to do what’s asked of them and then more. They also support those around them as they try to do the same things. It’s less of a competition than at other schools, each student has an understanding, and almost respect, for what their peers are going for. This is also seen in the teaching staff. Wanting to go into the medical field, a big part of my resume is research. Which has an immense presence at Creighton. I actually was invited to join a team next year. Being an honors student, more opportunities will also come up. In the honors program, I also will get to live with all the other incoming honors students.”

Q: What excites you most about Creighton’s running program and collegiate running in general?

A: “A little bit of everything. The team, having just gone through a coaching change, is small. All of the athletes are dedicated to what they do and have such an immense love for the sport. Their focus as well as the new coaches, relies heavily on building a unified team. We are a new generation of the program, so we get to lay the foundation. The new coach also focuses in on workouts based on science. This, like many college programs, makes the workouts individualized. At the beginning of the year every athletes will test to did their VO2 max, and retest several time throughout the season. Using this information, we will break our workouts into 5 categories, and do things such as, 30 minutes in zone 3. Alongside the support from the team and the coach, we also have support from the school. They patiently help athletes through injuries, nutrition programs, and with teachers to make sure missing class for meets doesn’t lead to any problems. Plus the school is sponsored by Nike! The combination of all of these things excites me beyond belief. I feel set up for success and can’t wait to see what I can do under the guidance of this program.”

Q: Will you be participating in cross and track?

A: “I will be doing both. However at Creighton Cross Country is their only Championship season. Indoor and outdoor track are used as time to improve upon specific skills, and we only participate in 5 meets between the two seasons.”

Q: What advice would you give to younger athletes looking to run in college?

A: “Don’t rule anything out.There are so many options and great programs out there. Don’t ever be afraid of reaching. When I started my college search I looked only at D2 schools. But the three best deals I got came from two DI schools and a NAIA school. Regardless of the division make sure you feel the places fit you athletically, or the places that give you the most money, also are a good fit socially and academically. You should love the school first, you need to know you have another outlet. You’ll know, you’ll get this feeling when all the pieces align. This advice also applies to coaches, it never hurts to ask. The worst thing they can tell you is no. But from my experience a lot of coaches will actually surprise you with their answers(for the best that is).”

If you see Chloe in the halls, make sure to congratulate her on her signing!