Klimek continues to lead 'Dogs to success

Some would expect an athlete's performance to drop off throughout a long season. Those people haven't met senior Eli Klimek.

In every men's cross-country race this year, Klimek has been the first Truman runner to cross the finish line.

"He's been very consistent all season long and has been our No. 1 runner in all of our meets thus far," head coach Ed Schneider said. "He continually improves his times and performances each week. I hope that trend continues on through the end of the season."

Klimek has had two top-10 finishes this fall. His highest finish was second at the MIAA Championship on Oct. 22, in Pittsburg, Kan. The second-place finish has earned him Index Athlete of the Week honors.

"I think I did pretty well," Klimek said. "I prepared well and was just mentally really focused on what I wanted to do. I feel like I could have done better. At times I was concentrating more on the team effort than the individual effort. I think I sacrificed a little bit for that because in the long run, I would rather the team do well as a whole even if that meant me doing not as well."

Klimek ran the 8k course in a time of 25:13.70. He was 18 seconds behind the winner, senior Jarod Wall of Central Missouri State University. Although he was behind Wall, Klimek did manage to record his fastest time of the season, making his way onto the Top-10 All-Time Bulldog list for the 8k run. Schneider said Klimek performed well.

"He ran a very good race, had his personal best time," Schneider said. "He made our top-10 performance list for 8,000 meters, which indicates he's one of the fastest runners we've ever had here at 8,000 meters."

Going into the conference meet, Klimek said he expected to take second and was surprised he made it so close.

"Actually I was [closer to Wall]," Klimek said. "I was actually surprised by the performances of the others who finished behind me. The last time I raced Jarod Wall, he beat me by quite a bit. It was just way too much for me to be Truman's No. 1 runner and to be behind him by that much was just ridiculous. I felt really good to be that close to him."

Klimek and the rest of his team aren't done yet. They will travel to Abilene, Texas on Nov. 5 for the South Central Regional Championship. Klimek said he will be ready.

"I think preparing comes naturally, the mental part of it," Klimek said. "We have learned our place on the team and what we need to do to perform the best we can as a team. We all know that it's a big deal and that regionals is our last race unless we do well enough to qualify for nationals."

While the race will feature tough competition, Schneider said he is confident Klimek will perform well.

"I'm hoping he competes the way he has all season long and goes after the front runners," Schneider said. "And tries to place as high and run as fast as he can."