Last year, Brent Vaughn led his Colorado Buffaloes to their second team championship in the past three years. This year, he and the Buffs look to pick up where they left off.

Is it hard to maintain having a family and being a nationally-ranked Division I athlete?

No, I don't think it's too tough at all. I have my wife around all the time and that makes things easy. It's got to be a little more difficult than it would be for someone without a family. We make it work just fine. We just arrange our schedules opposite of each other. It's just a lot of passing off and I guess we don't have as much free time. We really enjoy it and that makes it a lot easier.

Do you feel extra pressure to become a professional athlete because of it?

Yeah, I guess there's a little pressure. But I also think that the second I think about running as a way to make money, I'll lose the passion that makes me the athlete that I am right now. I try not to focus on winning races as a step to become a professional runner. I try to win because it's my competitive spirit. When I do start to look at running as a way to make money, it should be a good time to quit. I really would like to run professionally though, it's not why I do it.

When do you get free time and what do you do?

We have really good friends around the Boulder area, so every once and a while Sara's mom or my parents, or a friend of ours will take our daughter for the night and we can go out. We haven't got to do that very often. We try to have it once a week where we hang out together. We definitely don't have much free time but we have a little bit.

How many miles do you run a week?

I'm one of the lower guys on the team because I've had some injuries, but I got up to about 95 miles. Now I'm trying to hold low 90s through the season and I'm feeling pretty good doing it. I'm hoping to keep building and maybe by the winter I can get up around 100.

What kind of injuries did you have?

My freshman year I had a stress fracture in my tibia. Then I missed cross country two seasons ago with a stress fracture in my pelvis. The one in my pelvis was a little more serious. That one took me out for like two to three months. So, that was a bad one. It started early in track my sophomore year and I ran through it and it got bad.

How is your training going?

I've been training consistently for over a year now and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting into pretty good shape. I'm pretty excited about this cross country season.

You will be going to Pre Nats this weekend?

Yeah, we are bringing 12 people. So, we are taking a pretty big men's team out there.

And it doesn't look like Oregon is going out?

Yeah, I definitely would have liked to see them. We will see them on November 19th and that's the only day that really matters. We will still get to see Iona, and I think they may be underrated. I think last year, at Pre Nats, they had four guys under 23:45 and that's pretty impressive to say the least.

What are your team goals for this year?

With the way Mark's (Wetmore) been coaching recently, I mean I know runners can get in a groove, but if I could say that any coach is in a groove right now...it's Mark. He's really on his game and he's great at taking guys who have struggled in the past and making them run better. Think about what can he do with a guy like Stephen Pifer, who has got incredible talent. He's coaching us really well right now. We are going to be ready. I mean we won last year and this year the team could be even better and there are great teams out there. I think we have pretty good teams in our conference. We have Texas and Oklahoma State and they have really good teams. So, before nationals we have to get through the conference meet. We're not overlooking that by any means.

What do you think about the claim that you and Pifer are one of the, if not the best, one-two punch in the country?

Pifer and I are both in our fifth years together and we hang out a lot and we're pretty close. We've been training together for five years, so that's something we want to be able to say, going out on top, "we were the best one-two punch in the country." That`s something we can shoot for. I mean the competition is really stiff with Oregon, Wisconsin, and Iona with their runners up front.

What are your individual goals?

I'm pretty pumped about the team and trying to be a team guy. In the past years, I've gone out in the back of the pack and not really risked a lot. I haven't got up in front and risked dying. This year I think Mark wants me to risk a little. Maybe a little bit more early so I can get in the race. This year I'm going to get right in it. At 5K I want to be with that lead pack and just see what happens. There are some incredible runners in the NCAA at this time. Obviously with Rupp running the collegiate record, breaking Dathan's time. And Dathan's obviously someone who's an incredible runner in his own. The competition is as good up front as it's ever been.

What does your diet consist of?

In the morning I'll have cereal and pancakes or something. I try to get a pretty good breakfast. I'll have two breakfasts, where I might have my first at 7 a.m., then yogurt or something at 10 a.m. Then I try to eat a small lunch because my stomach is picky before I run, so peanut butter and honey and an apple usually and a recovery drink after my run. Then I try to have a pretty big dinner with steak or ribs or some kind of red meat, about two or three times a week. Then some fish one night and the rest would be chicken. I eat pretty well. One thing that I think has helped is that I'm eating spinach at least once a day.

What are your favorite shoes ever?

I like the Nike Durum. I train in that and I don't think a lot people have heard of it. It's a pretty heavy shoe. They may have actually discontinued it. It kept me healthy. It had what I was looking for in a shoe and it had a lot of support. Anything that keeps me healthy is a shoe that I like.

What is the hardest workout you've ever done?

Last track season I did six by 1K, which is nothing really fancy but it was the times that I hit. And that was three weeks out from the NCAA meet. I didn`t get to show how fit I was at the NCAA meet. It was in the 5K, I tore my plantar with 1,000 meters to go.

How does CU`s program differ from other Division I programs?

I think we are very close team. All the guys really get along and we love training together. We work together in the summer. Everyone wants to be there in the race for everyone else on the team. We don't want to let each other down. That's one of the reasons we've been able to show up at the big meets.

Are you more of a track guy or do you prefer cross country?

I actually like track better. But cross country is a lot fun because of the team aspect. I'm definitely better on the track.