Matt Fick is a senior cross-country runner. He has been on the Elizabethtown College’s men’s track and field team since fall of 2021. He was also a fall 2022 All-Conference athlete in the fall of 2022 after placing 12th overall out of 84 athletes.

Fick and the rest of the team recently finished their indoor track and field season. Their outdoor season is just starting. “The season is going good so far, and indoor just finished about a week or two ago,” Fick said. “Our first meet is on Saturday, March 25 at Susquehanna. I’m running a 10K at Susquehanna.” The time for the match is still to be determined.

Fick got into cross-country, because, according to him, “I wanted to try something new, and my high school never had a track or cross-country team. I wanted to be a part of a team again and I also had a few friends on the team that said I should come out and run.” From that day forward, he tried out and became a member of the team.

Fick said that he enjoys being on the team because of the positive bonding time between the team. One of his favorite parts about being on the team is, according to him, “Being with the guys, getting better together as a team and individually, and improving my times.”

The team regularly practices both on and off campus. Fick said that the practices require a lot of training. He listed three of the most important aspects of his training. “Water is a big part of training,” Fick said. “Three pillars that I do outside of running [are]: drinking a lot of water, getting a lot of sleep and icing my knees after every run.”

Since he has been on the team, Fick has been setting personal records. “My best time is 15 [minutes and] 48 [seconds] for a 5K in December 2022,” Fick said.

Fick plans to return to campus in the fall to complete his master’s degree in occupational therapy. One of the things he is looking forward to is the cross-country season in the fall. “I’m looking forward to cross-country in the fall and trying to be [an] All Conference [athlete] again,” Fick said.