Jordahl emerges as top athlete

When she was young, she moved to Pocatello, Idaho. She played soccer for all of high school. When she graduated from high school, she played soccer for Walla Walla Community college in Washington state. After receiving her AA degree at Century College in St. Paul, Becca Jordahl transferred to UWRF in fall of 2006.

Jordahl had never run cross country before last year, and at her first meet on Sept. 9th last season, she placed fourth.

Only a sophomore this year, Jordahl has already made a mark for herself as one of the top athletes in the country. Last year she placed 19th in the NCAA Div. III Nationals, and recently won the University of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 29 for the Div. III women’s race.

However, Jordahl couldn’t have gotten this far without help from her coaches.

“[Scott Sekelsky] always has tips, advice, motivation and guidance for me and my whole team,” Jordahl said.

Sekelsky primarily serves as the women’s cross country coach and spends a lot of time working with Becca.

“Becca is an asset not only because she is a talented runner, but because she does what you hope every runner would do, and that is train and run to the best of their ability,” Sekelsky said.

Head Coach Keven Syverson agreed with Sekelsky statement.

“[Sekelsky] and I are very fortunate to have a runner of her caliber running at UWRF.”

Jordahl is not focusing on what has happened, she is constantly focusing on improving. She won athlete of the week for WIAC and UWRF multiple times and “feels great,” but she feels as though she needs “to keep improving for that feeling to continue.”

Also contributing to her performance this season is the 70 miles she ran each week over the summer and plans on spending time in the gym, cross training and using the bike.

Not only is Jordahl an excellent runner for the team, she is a great role model as well.

“Becca is not happy with second best. She wants to be the best, and this is an important concept for her teammates to understand (men and women),” Syverson said, “Whether it be in running or in school or a career.”

Jordahl doesn’t have a lot of spare time, but when she does, she “sleep[s], eat[s], and work[s].” However, it doesn’t all come that easy.

“School is hard for me,” Jordahl said. “I’d much rather be running, so it’s difficult for me to balance the two.”

Jordahl has most of it figured out and is looking forward to breaking more records and doing well in the remainder of the season and next year.

“Conference is this weekend. I took third last year, so I’d like to improve on that,” Jordahl said. “I’d like to place in the top ten at [regionals]. I will feel lucky if I get the opportunity to go to nationals again this year, and if I do,  I would like to place in the top fifteen.”

Sekelsky is looking forward to next year as well.

“I see no reason why she can’t have an even better year than the one she is having right now,” Sekelsky said. “If everything falls into place, she could certainly make a run at a national title.”