Cardinal Points

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrei Popovici Vlad Freshman Mike Heymann finished fourth at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh as the top underclassman in the field of almost 300 runners.

Mike Heymann might go down as the best freshman in Plattsburgh State cross country history. What he has brought to the team has been invaluable, Cross Country/Track Head Coach John Lynch said.

This might be accredited to his dedication and hard training, which started in his early high school years from "being fat."

"Around eighth grade, I started running and lifting with a friend who was on the junior high cross country team," Heymann, a Tully native, said. "We'd go out on four or five miles runs and I was able to hang with him. He told me to go out for the high school cross country team and I did."

Mike saw immediate success as he was the seventh man on Tully's cross country team which won the Class D title at the New York State Championships.

This success as a freshman in high school might have been a precursor of his success in running for the future.

Even then he was referred to by local papers as a "flying freshman." This kind of success, Heymann said, was good for motivation to achieve more.

Just like the success he had as a freshman in high school, Heymann has come across the same type of accomplishments in college. He's lead the Cardinals in every legitimate race they've been in this year.

"I can tell you that Plattsburgh has never had a freshman adapt to the college training load as quickly as Mike," Lynch said.

His best performance yet was recently placing forth at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh as the top underclassmen in the field of almost 300 runners.

Heymann's stock continues to rise.

He teamed with senior Toni Wiszowaty to sweep the most recent SUNYAC men's and women's runners of the week honors for PSUC.

Heymann received the award after finishing second overall at the Hoffman Invitational, running the 8k in 26:20 - just 11 seconds shy off the winning time. He has finished top among the men's team in the last four meets.

High place finishes and an improvement in team standings hasn't been the only thing that Heymann will continue to give to Plattsburgh.

His status of being a well known runner around New York, along with performance, will open a lot of people's eyes to PSUC and work well as a recruiting tool, Lynch said.

Continued...

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