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Celebrating Colorado's college-bound track and cross country athletes:</h3>
Nicole Montgomery leans into the second turn en route to setting a new 4A 400 meter record last spring. Photo by Paul Jaeger.
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Nicole Montgomery's personal best marks:
200 meters - 24.02 (wind legal)
400 meters - 53.44
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You had some options in front of you for signing, what made you settle on Kansas?
I visited some great schools and met several coaches that were very impressive. The turning point in my choosing Kansas was the fact that the atmosphere felt like a family. The coaches were very approachable and some of the funniest people I've met. The facilities were all amazing and I just fell in love with the school and the program.
As far as you know now, will Kansas be keeping you at 200 and 400, or has there been talk of extending to 800 meters?
I think some of that will depend on my growth as a runner but the coaches seemed to think it was likely I would stay in the 400. I really enjoy running the 400 and think that is my best event. My high school coach and I have talked about maybe trying the 800 this year just to see how it goes.
You've had a wildly successful high school career in volleyball, capped by an undefeated season and a state championship this year. What made you decide to go with track and field for college?
Thank you! LP has a great volleyball tradition and I was fortunate to have played with national-level teammates. Choosing between volleyball and track was a really tough decision; even tougher than deciding on my college. While there were opportunities to continue volleyball in college, I finally decided that focusing on running gave me the most potential for greater success.
When did you pick up track in a serious way, and what prompted you to do that?
I ran a little in junior high. When I started high school I decided to run track mainly to keep in shape for volleyball. I believe that it was around my sophomore year where I was like, "Wow, I'm good at running!" However, I've always played club volleyball during track season, so time was divided between the two sports. This year I decided to not play club volleyball and am really excited to see what I can do just focusing on track.
Now that volleyball is over, how long before you start competing in track?
I will take a few weeks off to recover and actually enjoy winning state. Then I plan to start training for track. I have never run indoor track but if the training goes well I may try a couple of meets just to see what it is like.
If you had to pick a highlight for us from your high school career in track and field, what would that be?
As of right now the biggest highlight would probably be my selection to MileSplit's All-American team. All the girls selected were really amazing runners and I was very honored to be included with them.
Do you have any specific goals set for this spring that you're comfortable sharing at this point?
My coach usually has us set goals each year. While it is still early, after coming close last year I know that one goal will be to beat the overall state record in the 400.