Pictured: Mansfield’s Megan Rose stops by her old high school for an 8-mile recovery run the day after her trip to Tyler, Texas for the Ice Breaker Classic Track Meet.
Fresh off an abbreviated cross country schedule uncharacteristically run this second semester, Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Megan Rose jumped right into track season.
On Saturday, March 13 the former Mansfield Lady Tiger running star made the long trek to Tyler, Texas for the UT Tyler Ice Breaker Classic. One of over 900 athletes in attendance, the long-distance specialist had her share of favorable moments at the large-scale college track meet.
Rose by her own admission ran well. A 5:18.75 time in the 1500m run was second in her heat. It was possibly a personal record for the distance racer that was used to running the 1600m run while in high school.
“I was second in my heat,” said Rose. “I ran a strategic race. I ducked in behind the front runners. Most college runners don’t want to lead the pack. I stayed back and waited for my moment.”
Rose also ran the women’s 800m run. Her time in that second event was 2:44.44. It was a fast time for the player that normally prefers the longer races. Her overall mark was 27th out of 42 runners in the race.
Two months and two days ago, Rose and her Southeastern teammates started their cross country season that was postponed by Covid-19 protocols. The Great American Conference voted to wait until the second semester to participate in a shortened season. That left Rose and company to go straight into outdoor track season with little time off.
That first cross country meet on January 10 was frigid cold with flakes of ice and snow in the air. Near opposite weather conditions greeted the SE Savage Storm as they drove vans to Tyler, Texas for the track meet. A sunny 80 degree Fahrenheit plus day welcomed the herd.
Rose found her way back to Mansfield about 5:30 AM on Sunday morning. Her team went on an early spring break with a three-day layoff. True to her character, however, Rose didn’t stop training. She rounded the old haunts along the Mansfield cross country course for an 8-mile recovery run before noon that very same Sunday.
