SEATTLE — In her four years at Glacier Peak High School, Amy-Eloise Neale compiled a remarkable list of sports achievements. She won 10 individual state championships in cross country and track and field, and she was a six-time Gatorade Washington Female Athlete of the Year, winning the award three times in both sports.
Unfortunately, her college career to date has been less successful because of injuries.
Neale enrolled at the University of Washington in the fall of 2013 and ran cross country and winter indoor track as a freshman. Injuries then forced her to miss the ensuing track and field season, and she also had to sit out her entire sophomore year in 2014-15 and the cross country season this past fall.
But with patient rehabilitation, plus the same determination that willed her to so many victories over the years, Neale is thankful to be competing again.
“There were moments when I thought, ‘Am I ever going to come back?’” she said. “But there was never a moment when I said, ‘I’m going to walk away.’ Because I knew without a doubt that I love running.”
Rehabilitation from painful back, hip and leg injuries, “has been very difficult,” she admitted. “I’ve put a lot of work in and I’ve had to be very dedicated. But this isn’t about miracles to get me back on the starting line. It’s about stringing together weeks of training and progress. … It’s about being patient and making small improvements.”
Even as a younger runner, Neale endured nagging injuries. But when those ailments continued at Washington — and even became more severe — she had no choice but to essentially give up competitive running for a time.
Being away from the sport “was very, very difficult,” Neale said. “There were times I was depressed about not being able to run. Something that has defined you for so long has suddenly been taken away.”
But in those months of running minimal miles, and sometimes not running at all, Neale says she has “learned to listen to what my body is telling me and to make mature decisions. And sometimes the mature decision is to not work out that day. Missing one day and letting my body recover is so much better than doing a workout … and then not being able to run for a couple of weeks.”
“An injury cycle is something you just have to stop,” UW head track coach Greg Metcalf said. “Amy, to her credit, is an absolute study in perseverance and belief, and she’s worked so hard through these things.”
She is, he went on, “an elite athlete in thoughts, ideas, goals and aspirations. She’s been maybe a little banged up along the way … but it’s been exciting to see her persevere through this. And I think she’s poised to finish out her college career on a high note, for sure.”
Neale used the winter indoor season to build her strength and stamina, and that process is continuing this outdoor season. At the Stanford Invitational on April 9, she ran a career-best 4 minutes, 19.29 seconds in the 1,500 meters, finishing third in one of seven heats in an elite field. A week later, she ran 4:20.90 at the Pepsi Invitational in Eugene, Oregon, placing fifth in a tight, tactical race.
“In terms of training, I’m really, really happy with how things are going,” she said. “I’ve made steady progress since January and I’m feeling really good in the workouts. I’m feeling stronger and I think my speed is definitely coming back. … I feel like my old self again.”
She has already qualified for the Pacific-12 Conference championships, which are scheduled for May 14-15 in Seattle, and the first round of the NCAA championships on May 26-28 at Lawrence, Kansas. With 48 runners in the 1,500 headed to Lawrence, Neale needs to finish in the top five (or have one of the next two fastest times) in each of two 12-runner qualifying races to nab one of 12 spots for the NCAA finals, which take place in Eugene on June 8-11.
Though strategies and times vary from race to race, Neale believes a 4:15 is possible this season. “And from where I’m sitting right now, and from the very humble perspective of where I’ve been the last few years, I really believe that I can make it to nationals this year,” she said.
It is, she added, “nice to think I have a shot for the first time in a very, very long time.”
Should something special happen in the season’s remaining races, “I don’t even think words could describe how I’d feel,” she said. “But given what I’ve been through … I think I’ll definitely have a greater appreciation. Yeah, I’d definitely savor it a little bit.”
Likewise, Metcalf admits he is “very excited to see what happens. The goal right now is that she goes to the Pac-12 Championships, makes the final, and hopefully when they ring the bell (for the final lap) she’s got a shot (to win).
“Every week her confidence is growing,” he said. “Amy is running great and I think she’s poised to really get it done at the championship time of our season. She’s just an incredible competitor who knows how to win. … And I wouldn’t bet against this young woman, for sure.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
