At the Stanford Invitational last week, Queen’s Michael Crouch finished 9^th in the 5k in a time of 13:46.97. This time puts him as the top seed time for the DII Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. Crouch’s success has not been limited to only this outdoor season. He won the 5k at the Indoor National Championships and came in third this past season at the DII Cross Country National Championships.

Crouch is a sophomore transfer from Yucca Valley, California. “There are too many reasons to count that brought me to Queens. Some I would rather not say because I don’t want to offend certain people. I basically transferred because I got injured two times in one year at Cal State (San Marcos) and was sick of it. I needed a program that I didn’t want to punch myself in the face at because I was once again training on the elliptical,” he explains, “I also felt like I needed more people to train with. That is what I got at Queens especially for XC.”

Along with the change from West to East, there have been changes in his training.  Discussing the intensity of his new training regime, he says, “Some of the biggest changes in my workouts is the volume and paces that I am doing them at. Before this year the highest volume I had done on the track was 4 miles worth of work. I did start out with that at the beginning of track year but I have worked my way up to 10k volume doing 25x400, 12x800 and 6xmile at a very hard pace with hammers in the middle pushing myself as hard as I could. I mean Fasil Bizuneh, Oscar Ogwaro, Daniel Kanyaruhuru, and I all averaged 62's on the track for 25x400 hammering 56's and 57's.”

Track work is not the only change in Crouch’s training. “The other large change in my workouts is doing predator runs, which is starting at a tempo run pace and finishing with a pace that I basically want to pass out at. The key of all the workouts is to learn the skill of pushing yourself to your limits,” he adds.

These predator runs can get very competitive. “We (Daniel Kanyaruhuru and I) would always make bets on who was going to win in the next predator run, him or me. I always won until one time he wanted to win so bad he lay awake in bed all night and devised a tactical plan to beat me. Sadly it worked,” he recalls.

This hard working attitude will only help Crouch with his goals. He explains, “My biggest goal is to be able to glorify God in every race I run and thank him for any time I race whether it is good or bad because he is the one who gave me this gift. Next is to be happy with how I performed in my race now matter what time I run as long as I gave it everything I have. I think that should be everyone's goal above all.”

As for time goals, Crouch would rather stay quiet, “Time wise I would rather keep that between my coach, teammates and myself. I will just say that I believe there is definitely more in the tank” he states, but adds, “I will give one of my time goals before I graduate. It is something that I would literally do anything after if I accomplished it and that is to take down Michael Aish's 13:22 5k DII record. I think I can take a stab at it by the time I graduate. I have two full years after this track season and I think it is possible.”

Crouch not only wants to compete in the 5k at Nationals, but hopes to conquer the 1500 as well. He explains, “I will also possibly be running the 1500 at DII nationals. Aaron Braun has been loving life with all his mile and 1500 track titles and I want to see if I can give him a challenge. He’s a great guy and I am sure he would love the challenge.”  He continues, “I will be running another 5k or two in order to try and secure a spot at U.S. Outdoor Nationals come here in June. I would be so excited if I get to race at [the USATF Outdoor National Championships in] Oregon. I am already staying there for the summer with my good friend Sean Brosnan so hopefully I get to run the race as well.”

It is not necessarily all work and no play for Crouch, “I also love pulling pranks on people especially my teammate Stefan Liotchev. Just the other night I placed this fake dog crap in the hallway. My teammates and me just sat back and laughed at people’s reactions. They actually thought it was real. Someone even poked it with a rolled up piece of toilet paper,” he continues, “You don’t even want to be around me during Halloween. I go all out. I was an insane clown in a full suit this last year terrorizing Queens students. (It is the) Best Holiday ever!”