Q&A with Spider...Megan Ney

Coming off a strong win in the Long Jump at this weekend’s Vince Brown Invitational, Megan Ney is this week’s featured athlete. As she moves into her senior season for the Spiders she looks to lead the team in the jumps. A high jump specialist in high school she has expanded her jumping to include success in the long and triple jumps for the Spiders. She was honored as the Spiders Outstanding Field Performer during the 2008 & 2009 Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field seasons her sophomore and junior years. Ney holds Spider school records in three events…The Outdoor High Jump (1.70M), the Outdoor Triple Jump (12.01M) and the Indoor 4x400M Relay. We had the opportunity to ask Megan a few questions recently:

Question: During the fall semester you completed your student teaching. How did that impact your training? What did you do to adjust to the schedule change?

Ney: It was difficult not being able to train with the team and get to know the newest members, but the most important thing was to follow the schedule and complete as many of the workouts as possible. After practicing for three years at 7:00 AM it was odd to workout in the afternoon and essentially eliminated second and special practices. Despite this, I combined as many of the workouts throughout the weeks and used the weekends to catch up. While I thought working out after eight hours of teaching would be difficult, practicing was, in fact, cathartic.

Question: As you go into your senior year what are some of your expectations and/or goals for the indoor and outdoor seasons?

Ney: Because it is my final season, my main goal is to perform by best. This includes such things as training as hard as possible and setting as my personal records throughout the season. The past few years I set a few outdoor records and would really enjoy challenging my self to beat my personal bests.

Question: You specialize in the jumps (Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump). Do you favor one event over another?

Ney: I favor one event over another whenever I start performing better in a particular event. For example, last year I struggled in all three events throughout the season which in the end simply made me work harder knowing that I may actually perform to my best eventually (at the end of the season it was definitely the triple jump).

Question: You’ve had a successful career as a student-athlete at Richmond. What are your most memorable moments?

Ney: My most memorable moment is definitely winning my first collegiate event at the Lou Onesty Challenege at UVA. I broke my own personal record by 2 or 3 inches and, honestly, I never expected to jump that high ever, which only made it more exciting. I have also really enjoyed running on so many different relays with so many different teammates over the years.

Question: Has anyone outside of Richmond impacted or influenced your career leading to your competitiveness and success?

Ney: I have been asked this question several times over my years of competing and it is always the same: my brothers. I have three older brothers and have always felt the need to perform to their standards. Currently, my oldest brother holds five school records and continues to hold this over my head because I only have three (I also know, that he is gloating right now as he reads this, but he won’t be if I get my fifth record).