Mike Reif '20 Recruiting Profile

For only being a sophomore at the time of writing this I think I have a lot to talk about. If you’re reading this part of my profile you have probably seen most of my basic athletic and academic stats, but this is some of the information that you can’t find there or probably anywhere else on the internet. I got into running competetively when I was in 6th grade, my mom thought I would be a good runner because when I was very young I would run around all day, not only with my friends but just around my house in the living room using my imagination and pretending I was a Star Wars character. Throughout my middle school career in cross-country and track I was pretty interested in the sport but I was more into football, but eventually my mom talked me into making the right decision and going what I was best at in cross-country and track.As soon as I started running cross-country in high-school I knew that I loved running so much more in high school because of my coaches and new teammates. I was so happy that my mom talked me into running instead of doing football. I ended up running varsity freshman year for cross-country in regionals and sectionals and was the number three runner on my team that year with a time of 18:29 for a three mile race. Over the winter I didn’t have a lot of time to train because my freshman year I wrestled, started school at 7:15, and had a ton of homework so I never really had the time to except on the weekends. Because of that I started off the track season a lot slower than I wanted to, but at the end of the year I was down to a 10:47 3200 and a 5:12 1600. By the end of the track season I really realized the potential that I had for running and that I had a chance to get a college scholarship and this completely changed my work ethic for the better. I ran over 500 miles the summer and learning a lot more about the sport going into my sophomore year. I ended improving a ridiculous amount both athletically and academically, in cross-country I went from a PR of 18:29 to a 16:28 in three miles and I also went from taking 17th place in fresh-soph in conference freshman year to taking 3rd in conference on varsity my sophomore year. My biggest struggles in freshman year and middle school were staying organized and doing homework, and this year I’ve been staying on top of that so much more, I think how much I improved in that area is even more impressive than in cross-country.  I have a lot of goals for the rest of my highschool year, I want to have all A’s and B’s the rest of my high school career and athletically I want to run a 14:45 3-mile, 2:00 for the 800, 4:25 for the 1600 and a 9:20 for the 3200 by my senior year. Looking at my PR’s you might be thinking I’m crazy, but if I told you last year I’d run a 16:28 next year you’d say the same. This coming track season I want to get 2:07 in the 800, 4:45 in the 1600, and 10:15 in the 3200.  In college I want a school that will fit me well academically and athletically. I want my college education to help me start the most successful professional career as possible. I feel that I can make any college team better because I will do whatever a coach wants me to and I will do anything to improve. I’m only a sophomore and the top runner on a young team so I’ve had to learn to be leader at a younger age then most other recruits had to.