Rahul Koshy '18 Recruiting Profile

Most people have never submerged their bare bodies into an ice-cold river after running 6 miles. My journey has included this and many other exhilarating and life defining experiences.

I began to strive for a higher standard of running in the summer of 2017 and was lured to Crested Butte, Colorado. Although I had been delivering solid miles for my high school cross country coach for 3 years, I craved an opportunity that would remove me from my comfort zone and genuinely test my physical limits. I elected for a month-long stay at the prestigious Team Prep USA cross country camp. With the exception of a few Olympians, high-altitude training is not something most athletes have the resilience for;  I was prepared to endure pain, extend my boundaries, and return to my high school team as an elite runner. I quickly became acclimatized to altitude running, and made improvements in my technique and timing strategies. My daily activities included running several miles on brutal hills in the rain, promptly icing my immersed body in the freezing rivers afterwards for at least 15 minutes. It was during these moments of regeneration that I knew that I would return to my high school team as a refreshed, reborn athlete. 

A little over a year ??? before attending this camp, I had been a runner who had barely put in daily mileage, and struggled during the races, placing last on Junior Varsity. I ranged between 20:00 – 24:00 in the 5k’s throughout my entire first season. The following year, unsatisfied with my previous results, I set out to become a better runner. The first race of the season, I ran 19:00 shaving 70 seconds off my previous personal best of 20:10. I was thrilled with my progress, but the best was yet to come. Later in the season, I won the boys JV race at Alligator Lake, with a time of 18:41 which was another victory for me, as I had gone under 19:00 for the first time. My last race of the season was at Footlocker South Regionals, where I ran a personal record of 17:34; another sense of euphoria-under 18:00- a major milestone in my running career. I opened up this season running a 16:38 at the Wickham Park Jamboree, and placed 3^rd overall in the men’s division.

 I am a changed athlete. So what?

My ultimate passion for running emerged alongside my lust for music and science: French Horn for the Philharmonic Orchestra, Superiors at Marching band MPA’s, and molecular research in a Level Two Bio Lab. Cross country triumphed over these other amazing contenders for my passion.  So what’s next? The exciting reflection is that with the same determination, hard work, planning, endurance, execution, and understanding that every second in the race counts, my college career and ultimate calling will demand the same and more of me. I am ready. I am dreaming big for the next phase: college!