Mile posts: Q&A with Wichita State, former Griswold running star Rebekah Topham – Des Moines Register

Rebekah Topham ended several months of frustration with a memorable weekend at the American Athletic Conference Indoor championships 12 days ago in Birmingham, Alabama. The Griswold-area native led Wichita State to a rousing victory in the distance medley relay on Friday and then claimed two individual titles the following day, in the mile and 3,000 meters, to earn Women’s Most Valuable Performance honors.

The result came just a couple weeks after the Shockers junior finally found the right iron supplement to correct her anemia. The jump in red blood cells came after a lengthy trial-and-error process that undermined her junior cross country season.

In a wide-ranging interview with me earlier this week, Topham talks about why her DMR victory at conference was so special, her decision to attend Wichita State, her remaining college goals, growing up in a rural area and her recent battle with anemia.

LB: Hello Rebekah and congratulations on winning the AAC MVP. How does it feel to win the MVP honors?

RT: That was a big honor receiving that. Before the meet I wasn’t expecting to do as well as I did. It’s hard to explain. It was definitely a goal, but at the time same time I didn’t think it was going happen.

LB: So the indoor season had been kind of a disappointment up to that point?

RT: Sort of. I never really had a race at all that I was happy with. This season hasn’t gone as well as I wanted. I was expecting to run much under 9:36 (her personal best for 3,000 meters). I think I’m in better shape than last year. I didn’t feel ready. I got real sick before conference. I was still sick at conference. I’m still sick now. I don’t know what’s going on. A week or two ago I thought, “I’ll be over it.” I was still coughing like crazy, coughing up stuff, blowing my nose last week. I wasn’t feeling my best, but in the back of my mind I thought I do well in races when I don’t feel good.

LB: That was an impressive win in the 3,000. You went right by defending champion Hannah Miller of SMU like she was standing still on the final lap. You must have felt great.

RT: The 3,000 I guess was the last event. I was going to give it all I had. I just had the mile a few hours earlier. Honestly it worked out good by the way she worked out her strategy, sit and kick. I like those.

LB: She played right into your hands?

RT: I was just following her. She kept dropping (slowing) the pace every lap. (I thought) I’m going to sit on her and hopefully have some energy at the end. I was feeling it at the end. We were hoping it would come down to me and (teammate) Winny (Koskei) at the end.

LB: More (team) points for sure. But she fell back and it was between you and Miller.

RT: She (Koskei) was feeling tired after winning the 5k. That’s a hard double.

LB: What’s more satisfying, winning the AAC distance medley win or the two individual titles?

RT: The distance medley. That was the first race and started the meet off on a good note. I was just so happy about that race. That was the first race I felt proud of in a long time. I had a really, really rough cross country season. That was the first race where, I’m back. My (mile) split was a PR. I got the baton way back. I thought, “We’re not going to win.”

LB: How far back were you?

RT:  I was on the curve and they were on the straightaway handing off. Hannah (Miller) is a good miler, too. She was their anchor. I think she was second or third when she got it. I knew she would be hard to catch up to.

LB: How long did it take for you to catch the leaders?

RT: When I first got the baton, I caught one (runner) right away. There was like these two girls. When I passed them I was in third. I thought, “We will end up in third.” I felt like I was dying at that point. I started slowly catching them. With a few laps to go, I got this really big burst of energy. Fire was coming out of my eyes. That’s the best I can explain it. I’ve never felt that before. I put my head down and caught them on the straightaway with 300 meters to go.

LB: When is the last time you had this kind of feeling?

RT: I haven’t been happy with my races since (USA Outdoor) nationals (at Drake University). I made finals (in the 3,000 steeplechase), which was my goal. The race Friday, I felt I’m officially back. It was a big confidence booster. I haven’t had one of those in a while. After that, it gave me a lot of confidence going into the other races. I can at least run that again or faster. The mile even gave me more confidence going into the 3k.

LB: Was your kick in the 3,000 similar to your medley leg?

RT: No. I was so determined (in the medley). It really motivates me when people are ahead. It helps having people up there to focus on catching.

LB: Is it disappointing to be sitting home next weekend or do you recognize the indoor nationals qualifying field is smaller than outdoors?

RT: It is disappointing, but I have to say cross country not making nationals was bigger. I was really, really sad, depressed about it and everything. It’s been a goal since I was a freshman. I really was thinking this was the time. Winny (Koskei) made it (to nationals). That made it so difficult since I train with her. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for her.

LB: The qualifying field for indoor nationals makes it so much tougher.

RT: Because they only take 16. The qualifying time to get in (for the 3,000) was 9:03. I can’t be disappointed when I wasn’t close to it. My best this season was 9:21. I love indoors and wish I could make indoor nationals. Even if the season went how I wanted it to, I wouldn’t have gotten in. I’m moving on to outdoors. Last year is my last chance. I don’t want to be hard on myself since it’s so hard to make it.

LB: Your sister Joanna got 9th at NJCAA nationals in the 1,000 and then didn’t score in the mile for Hawkeye Community College. How did she feel about her performance?

RT: I think for her she was really happy with the first day. She got a PR in the 1,000 prelims and she got a PR in the mile for their DMR. The second day she wasn’t so happy. She wanted to get All-American in the mile. She was disappointed with that. At the same time she knew she was tired with five races. It was a long weekend.

LB: Did you go to it?

RT: I went on Saturday. It was like 2 hours and 40 minutes away from me, in Pittsburg (Kansas).

LB: Why did you decide to attend Wichita State?

RT: Kind of a little bit of everything. Having coach (Kirk) Hunter here. His coaching style and the way he did things with the program. He (Hunter) just did things the way I liked, I guess. That’s one big reason. There’s family around here and other things.

LB: Did you have interest from Iowa universities?

RT: I got a lot of letters in the mail, hundreds of letters. A bunch of them unopened, Harvard, Ivy Leagues. Big schools from all over the nation. I knew I wanted to stay close to home. It came down to Wichita State and Iowa State. I ended up not visiting Iowa State. I already knew I loved Wichita State. It still took me forever to decide. There was something about it (Wichita State).

LB: It had nothing to do with your major, sports management?

RT: Nothing to do with that. I really liked coach Hunter’s coaching style. I didn’t really want to go to a super big school where I would be just a number. My senior year of high school when I was trying to decide, I knew I would be top seven on the varsity at Wichita State. I’ve seen so many good runners be good in high school and go to a big college and get lost, get injured, eventually quit. I’m not saying that would happen to me at Iowa State.

LB: Had Wichita State left the Missouri Valley when you were deciding?

RT: When I was first here I didn’t know we were switching. I didn’t know anything about switching to the American until my sophomore year. It definitely wasn’t that long ago. I remember asking coach Hunter and he said they’re doing it for basketball.

LB: I read where it was your decision to redshirt a year ago because you wanted to qualify for nationals and improve your times.

RT: That was basically it. Ever since freshman year I wanted to be All-American and everything. After my sophomore year of outdoor track I was really bummed I didn’t make nationals. I knew I wanted to redshirt sometime. I wanted to take a year to develop and make nationals. When I brought it up to coach Hunter about redshirting, he said another good thing about it is we can figure out this (new) conference during your redshirt year.

LB: Winny Koskei won the AAC cross country meet and qualified for nationals last fall. Is there a rivalry with your teammate?

RT: The thing about me and Winny is we are really close. We’ve gotten really close over the last year or two. She was really shy when she first got here. I didn’t really know her. We became so close and are best friends. We are happy for each other when the other person does well. If there’s anybody on this earth I would want to beat me it’s Winny. I was so happy for her winning conference, killing it at regionals and nationals.

LB: What did your parents think about you redshirting?

RT: I talked to my parents about it and they were fine with it for my goals and everything.

LB: Did you get love of running from your dad and uncle, who both ran in college?

RT: Most of my dad’s side of the family runs. My cousin is going to run at Wichita State. I fell in love with it. My dad took me to road races when I was 8. I went to AAU races, traveled all over the country. I was really into running.

LB: What did you like most about it?

RT: It makes me feel free. Go run, clear my mind. I just really love the competition.

LB: Did you have a rivalry with Joanna growing up?

RT: My sister hated running so she never really ran. My dad tried to get her to run. She did it in seventh grade, came back her sophomore year. It took her until her senior year to actually love it. Now she loves it.

LB: Not to make this blog about your sister, but has she decided where she’s going to transfer to?

RT: No. She is very slow with making decisions (laughs).

LB: Are you a junior as well academically?

RT: Yes. I’m just taking a lighter load each semester. I’m in no hurry. I will graduate in five years, graduate next spring.

LB: What do you want to do with your degree?

RT: I want to be a coach. I also want to run professionally.

LB: That was my next question, if you wanted to run professionally.

RT: If that happens, I will be a volunteer coach on the side somewhere. I want to focus on that (running).

LB: It seems to me that the 3,000 steeplechase is your best race.

RT: I definitely have to say that is my best race. If I go professionally, the other (race) times are not close enough. I think I have a lot of room for improvement in the steeplechase. Last year I finally learned how to land with one foot in the water. Last year I dropped my time 20 seconds. I feel like I can do that again if I have a good day. I feel like I can run faster than a 9:21 3,000. In the back of my mind I know I want to go pro, but lately (I’m) just focusing on college stuff, being an All-American, one step at a time.

LB: Will you be running at Drake in April?

RT: I think I will open my first steeple race at Stanford at late March. If that goes well, that will be my last steeple until conference. The American is not super competitive in the steeple.

LB: You have to be motivated seeing what Karissa Schweizer and Shelby Houlihan have done in college and now the pros.

RT: For sure. When Karissa started doing big things in college, doing amazing, that’s when I thought this could be me. I raced against her all the time in high school. That was motivating see her do that. Very motivational.

LB: What improvements do you want to make, like getting stronger, diet?

RT: Getting more mileage. I’m kind of a low mileage kind of person. Mileage is something my coach wants me to work on. I’m working on that. The redshirt year helped me, but I can still improve on that a lot.

As far as the steeple, experience will help me a lot with that. I literally figured out the steeplechase and water thing last year. I was landing two feet at the same time. I couldn’t figure out how to separate them. I’m still not super good at it compared to other people. When I said I dropped 20 seconds, that (the water jump) was a good amount of it.

LB: What happened this fall? It seemed you had a lot of momentum after your performance at USA Nationals.

RT: The reason I struggled during cross country season is I was anemic. That’s why my cross country season was rough. I get my blood tested so often. My runs, my races, my legs felt heavy. It was really, really frustrating. I was not running to my potential. I tried eight different supplements. After a year of trying different ones, I found one that brought my iron levels up. I finally saw results on my iron before the (indoor) conference meet. I don’t feel weak anymore.

LB: When did you see your red cell count improve?

RT: I think February 11. (Pause). It was February 11. It was the first time I’ve seen improvement in my blood results for a year. I had problems off and on. I’m so excited. It’s so encouraging.

I have never felt so bad in a race as I did at conference cross country (last fall). My legs felt so heavy. Am I going 10-minute pace? I felt so awful. I’m so glad I can look back at that race now. It’s not a fun thing to go through. You feel night and day different. I feel anybody’s pain who goes through it.

LB: Your Christianity is very important to you. Tell me about that.

RT: I definitely grew up in a Christian household. I couldn’t have made it through these things without God. (Last) Cross country season, for example, was really rough. I couldn’t find anything to fix it. I had to trust God and his plan. As a runner I get really impatient. I want to run this time right now, God’s timing is different. He always works everything out for the best.

My senior year of high school I was going through some really rough times, health problems. God helped me through that.

LB: What was going on then?

RT: I was really sick. I was fatigued all the time. Super dizzy. I went to so many doctors and they didn’t know what was going on. Nothing was fixing the problem. My senior year was rougher than last cross country season. Around track time is when it really hit. My junior year I won four events (at state). My senior year I was happy to win two. It was literally a disaster.

LB: You grew up in a town of about 900 people in Griswold in southwest Iowa. That must have been a bit tough running in a small town.

RT: Thank God we lived in the country. I love living in the country. I could walk out the door and run on country roads. For me, there’s no better place. It’s so relaxing.

LB: I know what you mean. I really enjoy running on the gravel roads around here.

RT: Some people think it’s boring. But the soft surfaces, you can recover faster. In Griswold, we would run around town and it was worse than here because sidewalks were the worst. Thank goodness we have country roads to run on.

LB: What do you like to do away from running?

RT: I don’t have much free time. I spend a lot of my time doing running-related stuff. I do really love photography. I love to take pictures. Other than that, my life is pretty boring.

LB: Finally, I have to ask you about your Twitter handle, 1500runner423. Is the 423 your best mile?

RT: That’s my best time. My first Twitter handle was 1500runner428. That’s when he (Hunter) first offered me (a scholarship) after I ran that. It was one of my best races of all time. My freshman year of college, I ran 4:23. I was asked, “Are you going to change you Twitter handle?” Hopefully that will happen again.