This Virgina Cavalier was one of the top under classmen in the NCAA Cross Country Championships. In 2007 Emil placed 26^th at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Scotland. He's ready for his first indoor season after a solid cross country season.

How did the cross country Championship race play out for you?

The race went out pretty quick. Through the first 400 meters, I found myself up in the front...front 20 or so. I kind of checked myself at that point. I thought I'd chill out a bit. From 1K to 3K I just tried to go with the flow of it. The pack was stringing out and I wasn't concerned about place. I knew people would come back to me. After about 3K, I started moving up. I felt great. I came through 5K in just under 14:50, I was probably right around 20^th through half way. I was running behind the pack of Christo and all those guys. From 5K to 7K, I was with that whole group and about 10 guys pulled away from me. I basically just trailed the front pack for a long time. Around 8K the front pack start to break up and string out. I was able to catch a few guys and get in the top 30. By the time I got to 1K to go, I just held where I was and finished strong over the last 500m for 26^th overall.

Were you really happy with your finish?

Yeah, I was excited. With the way the season's gone earlier it was definitely a great way to finish my season. It was one place off where I wanted to finish. My goal for last year was to place in 25^th place. I'm not disappointed at all. I'm really happy.

What do you mean “the way your season started”?

I found out I was anemic half way through the season.

Was your team happy with the 14^th place finish?

We feel like we were a top-10 team in the country. It was kind of an average day. We could have had a great day and finished in the top 10. That's the way it goes sometimes.

Are you in the midst of taking time off? Or are you back to running?

I actually had my first day of running today.

So, about a week off? What did you do?

Not much. Just went home for Thanksgiving. Lots of eating.

You redshirted last indoor season. What are you goals for this upcoming indoor season?

I'd like to qualify for nationals indoors in the 3K or 5K. I don't really have any time goals, just whatever it takes to get to nationals. If I had to give a number, I'd say I'd like to break 14. If I do that then I'd give myself a good chance to qualify for nationals.

Is there a chance at a double or are you going with the flo(w)?

We'll see. This is my first indoor season. I haven't had a serious indoor season since high school.

What was it like to wear the USA jersey at the World Cross Country Championships?

It was awesome. It's pretty incredible to put on the red, white and blue. It was a good experience...a pretty good race.

Do you throw the jersey back on sometimes?

It's just pinned up on my wall right now. Maybe I'll take it down one day.

Are you a Cleveland Cavaliers fan? (Emil is an Ohio native)

Yeah, I'm a Cavaliers fan.

Is it a coincidence that you chose to go to Virginia, where they're the Cavaliers there as well?

Ha! Yeah, it's a coincidence.

What do you make of this whole Lebron James and Charles Barkely business?

I don't follow basketball quite that closely, but I know that Lebron is the man and I hope he stays in Cleveland for a long time.

What would you do if you had a weekend to yourself, where you didn't have to worry about school or running?

What would I do for a week? I'd probably go for a long drive. A drive to see all the parts of the country. See everything that I haven't had a chance to see. Cross the Grand Canyon, go to Las Vegas, go to California, just hang out. It would be longer than a week, but I'd definitely do some traveling.

What's the hardest workout you can ever remember doing?

The toughest workout that we did this past cross season was we had to do a five by one mile workout with five minutes rest. We were supposed to average 4:40 pace overall. Let's say I ran 4:45 for the first one, meaning one of my miles would have to be 4:35. After the workout, I think I averaged 4:42 and it was really, really hard. A few days later, come to find out, Coach (Vigilante) had actually measured wrong and we were running quite a bit farther than a mile. Unintentionally the toughest workout of the year.

Are you going to run the mile indoors at all?

I'd love to run the mile. We'll see what Vig wants me to do. I'd like to get close to four minutes. It's one of those magic performance barriers, so maybe I can run fast. We'll see what happens.

Can you give me a crazy running story?

It's not necessarily entirely running related, it just shows how competitive a high school running teammate and I are. Matt Stratman, a sophomore at Ashland. Our high school was doing a 24-relay charity thing on a track. They did all these events. Matt and I had finished up our portion of the running. We were just hanging out and killing time. We decided we were going to find out who could cover 400m the slowest. I went first and did about 10 minutes the first time. Then he went next and did like 20 minutes. Then we started to see who could walk the slowest. After his 20 minutes, I thought I could kill that and walked the next lap in about 35 minutes. The rule was you had to keep moving the whole time, you couldn't stop. You had to keep moving one foot forward at all times. That was the rule. After my 35 minutes, he decided that he was going to blow me out of the water. He walked one lap in two hours, eight minutes. I never walked slower than that.

That almost seems impossible.

It is definitely not impossible. It's probably a world record.

I can't even picture what that looks like.

You want to picture it? It looks like he's not even moving from far away. But in a half hour, he's 100m ahead from where he was before. He's literally walking a centimeter at a time. Or stepping a centimeter at a time.

It must take a little more concentration than one would think.

I think he positive split. He went 15 minutes his first 100m. He said by the end of it, his legs were burning.