University of Tennessee Athletics
DICKIE LEADS LADY VOL CROSS COUNTRY TEAM BY EXAMPLE
September 28, 2001 | Women's Cross Country
Sept. 28, 2001
By Justin Gallagher
Lady Vols cross country coach Rodney Rothoff knows a determined athlete when he sees one, and he is aware that they are few and far between.
Rothoff also knows he is lucky to have one in Sharon Dickie.
"The resilience Sharon has shown through adversity is unbelievable," Rothoff said. "Some people run from adversity, and some charge it head on. She's one that charges adversity head on."
Dickie, a 5-7 junior from Grand Blanc, Mich., knows all too well how injuries can change a season. In the summer of 1999, she sustained an injury to her hip and was forced to sit out the upcoming season. While sitting out the 1999 season as a redshirt, Dickie said she gained a greater appreciation for her athletic ability and being a member of the team.
"I guess missing a whole year showed me how much I missed running," she said. "Not being able to travel with the team and not being able to help them was probably the worst feeling ever."
When she came back in 2000, Dickie picked up right where she left off as a freshman. She was an All-SEC selection for the second time in her career and was recognized as the NCAA South Region Athlete of the Year after winning the regional race and making the NCAA meet. At the NCAA meet in Ames, Iowa, Dickie finished 29th with a time of 21:21.8 and garnered All-America accolades.
What was even more remarkable was her triumph over the course and weather conditions. With wind chills of 17 below zero, the course on that day resembled Siberia more than Iowa.
"It was horrible," Dickie said of the weather conditions at last year's NCAA meet. "I was kind of used to it because I'm from Michigan, but I came down to Tennessee and got accustomed to warmer weather.
"In high school, every single state meet I had was in the snow."
Dickie enters the 2001 season as the Lady Vols' top returning runner and captain. On Sept. 22, Dickie captured her first individual title of the season at the Vanderbilt Invitational. Her time of 18:05 was one of the 10 best ever recorded for the 5K run at Percy Warner Park in Nashville.
"It was pretty good," Dickie said of her first-place effort. "It wasn't against any big competition. Just being out there and being able to compete was good."
Intensity, focus and patience are some of the best attributes for any distance runner. At the Vanderbilt Invitational, Dickie was put to the test - by allowing some of her competitors to get ahead of her during the first part of the race.
"I was about 30th or so, and I let people go ahead of me," Dickie said. "After the first mile had passed, I started moving up and ended up winning it.
"It depends on the race and the course. Sometimes I hang with the leaders, or I'll go out there and hang back the first mile."
As for this season, Dickie said she wants to raise the bar even higher in terms of accomplishments.
"I want to keep improving," she said. "I want to place at the SEC and regionals. At the nationals, I want to keep moving up - I'd like to be in the Top 10 or 15." More importantly, Dickie feels the trip to the NCAA meet would mean a lot to a young Lady Vol team.
"We're a young team, but I'd love to take a team to the NCAAs," Dickie said. "That's probably the best experience a young runner could have."
Dickie got her interest in running after seeing her older brother, Bob, pick up cross country in high school. Ironically enough, her brother also got her interested in UT.
"I was really familiar with the school because my brother came down and ran for the team," she said. "I fell in love with Tennessee too."
In her spare time, Dickie likes to go hiking on some of the weekends without races. After she's finished at UT, Dickie said she'd like to pursue a career in the sports field.
No matter what she does in the future, Dickie will always have that tremendous passion and desire for running.
"I'll always be running," she said. "I don't know where, but I'll be a runner."
