College Athlete of the Week: Kyle Van Santen

College athlete of the week

Player: Kyle Van Santen

Year, school: Senior, St. Martin’s University

Sport: Cross country

Hometown: Lake Stevens (Lake Stevens High School)

What he did: Finished third at the Great Northwest At

hletic Conference’s 8-kilometer race in Yakima. His time of 25:00 is the fastest by a Saints runner since 2007.

What’s next: Van Santen and the Saints, who jumped into the NCAA Division II West Region poll at No. 8 this week, have begun preparations for next week’s West Region championship event in Spokane. The NCAA D-II championships are the following week.

You took third at the GNAC meet to earn all-conference honors for the third year in a row. Is this year’s honor any more significant than the previous two?

There’s nothing really different for awards. But I was proud of my time. John Riak was on the team three years ago, and he ran a similar time, and it was one of the fastest times from our school. So I was the first guy to do it since then.

Your time of 25:00 was about 36 seconds behind the race winner. Was there ever a time you were in the lead or within striking distance of eventual winner Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage?

I was with him for the first mile or two. Then they kind of took off — the first two guys. It was just me and the fourth-place person then, and on the fourth mile I just took off and left him in the dust. That’s the only way I could beat him because I knew he had a better kick than me. I didn’t want to wait.

The guy who finished second was named Barak. How’s it feel to be right on the heels of the leader of the free world?

Pretty good. He’s been of up and down over the last four years. I know he can have a really good race.

His name is actually Barak Watson, not Barack Obama. Different guy.

Oh, yeah. It’s a different guy.

OK, now for the hard part. Since all we could find on your St. Martin’s bio was that you like pizza, boating and the television show CSI, we had to turn to your Facebook page. Apparently you’re into Star Trek?

No.

That’s what it said on your Facebook page.

Not on purpose.

Maybe I got wrong guy.

It should have had my picture on there, a picture of me running. But I’m not into Star Trek. I’m not sure why that was on there.

Well, there’s also a link to a Facebook page called something like, ‘Only I can fight with my sibling.’ Is that supposed to be on there?

I don’t know.

Do you have a sibling, and is counseling in your near future?

I have two siblings. We do fight sometimes, so that could make sense. Brothers? Or sisters?

A brother. And a sister.

Is one of them more likely to end up in therapy with you?

My younger brother. We always fight because we’re not so close in age. He’s six years younger, so he gets on nerves.

What about him gets on your nerves?

He doesn’t listen to me. I say get ready for bed, and he says, ‘That’s mom’s job.’

But only you can fight with him, right?

Me and him, we just butt heads. He’s almost bigger than me, so I had better be careful.

At least you can out-run him.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that won’t happen. He won’t be able to catch me.

Any chance you’ll end up as a character on one of those CSI episodes you love so much?

No. It’s just brotherly. Like a sibling rivalry, normal stuff.

Circling back, what’s your favorite kind of pizza?

I’d have to say Canadian bacon or pepperoni.

I thought all you cross country runners fueled up on tofu and alfalfa.

No. No. I don’t even like Tofu. It’s kind of bland.

So when your senior season is over, are you going to kick back and fill up on pepperoni pizza while watching old CSI episodes?

No. We only have a week off, then I have to get ready for indoor (track) season.

How about after track season, will you quit running then?

I’ll be done, but I’ll probably still run — just for the fun of running. It’s one of those passions you never get rid of.

How often do you run in the offseason?

I’ll probably take a couple weeks off, then slowly get back into it. Probably 40 to 50 miles a week.

You know, Barak is probably running 60 miles a week.

In the summer? Really?

I’m just kidding.

Oh. That’s fine. You can say that if you want to.