The Road To Sydney

Rimas Gedeika , a marathon runner, is a senior product development analyst in an insurance corporation. He is also an avid Lithuanian sports enthiusiast, especially marathon, and track and field.

Jurga Marcinkeviciute at Villanova. photo by Rimas Gedeika

One such athlete, who is traveling on the road to Sydney, is Jurga Marcinkeviciute, Lithuania's best women's 800 meter runner.

Jurga's road to Sydney is very similar to the road traveled by many other track and field athletes, yet her journey has many unique physical and psychological challenges.

Jurga began her journey 13 years ago when she was ten years old and living in Alytai, Lithuania. Even at that young age Jurga already showed that she had speed to burn; that she was blessed with exceptional running skills.

One of the first people to recognize her talents was Valdas Grigas, who was to become her first coach. Under his watchful eye, she soon became one of Lithuania's best young middle-distance runners.

From about age 14 and continuing through her high school days, Jurga was selected to participate on numerous Lithuanian Junior National Track and Field Teams. She competed in several European Junior Championships winning many awards and medals running distances anywhere from 600 to 1000 meters. Although she ran various middle distances; nevertheless, the 800 meter-run was both her favorite and best event.

Thus, after graduating from high school, Jurga began focusing all her mental and physical energies on running that distance. Her love for running was great, but her love for education, especially the sciences, was greater.

Shortly after entering Vilnius University, she made a very tough decision. She decided to give up running and to concentrate all her energies on her studies. But, as often is the case, fate intervened. Shortly after making this decision, Jurga met Romas Sausaitis, one of Lithuania's best long distance runners, who helped rekindle her desire to run. Shortly thereafter, Romas became her coach and helped her back into top shape.

The year, 1995, was a major turning point in Jurgaҳ life. That spring, Andrius Klemas, a Lithuanian marathon runner from America, came to visit Lithuania. After seeing Jurga run, he was so impressed with her natural abilities that he quickly began trying to persuade her to come to America to continue both her running and her academic careers at a University in the United States.

The decision was not easy. After evaluating all the pros and cons, Jurga decided to give it a try. She felt that the road would be rough, but if she wanted to be the best that she could be, she had to go where her potential could be realized.

Through Andriusҳ intercessions, Jurga received running scholarships from four major American universities. One of which was from Villanova University. Villanova University not only has one of the best track and field programs in the United States, it also has a very demanding academic program. Thus, to receive a running scholarship from Villanova, the athlete must display exceptional running abilities as well as the intellectual powers to handle its challenging academic program. Jurga was undaunted by these high standards. "Working hard was never a problem for me," she stated.

When Jurga received this scholarship, she became the first runner from Lithuania to receive such an award. (Note: In 1997 Agne Visockaite, Lithuania's best woman sprinter, became the second runner to receive a track and field scholarship. This came from Iowa State University).

The first stop on her road to Villanova was Seattle, Washington. Here she studied English and passed the required exams for entry into Villanova University. Autumn came, school started, and training began.

Things were looking up for Jurga but, not for long. As soon as she began to intensify her workouts, she began to experience pain in her left foot. A stress fracture that she had incurred while running in Lithuania, was not healing properly and was becoming more painful every day. Her frustrations mounted; she wanted to train hard, to run faster, but now she could barely jog. To add to her physical difficulties, Jurga had to adjust to John Marshall's, Villanova's head track and field coachҳ, physical and mental training techniques.

"To make a complete adjustment from one coach to another takes about one year," said Jurga. "By then, if everything works out OK, you and the new coach should be on the same mental wave length, and, only then, will your training pick up."

Looking back, Jurga regards her freshman year, from an academic perspective to have been right on target. From a runnerҳ point of view, she felt disappointed. Yet her running accomplishments are worth noting. For example, at the Big East Indoor Championships, Jurga placed 8th in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:18.35.

At the Penn Relays, Jurga ran in two relay teams. In the Distance Medley Relay, she ran the last and longest leg (1600 meters). It was mainly due to her fine last leg, that Villanova took third place. The next day she ran the anchor leg of the 4 x 800 meter relay. Again, largely do to her big kick on the last leg, Villanova won second place. In the Big East Outdoor Championships, she took fourth place in the 800 meter, and third place in the 1500 meter races.

Her sophomore year showed even greater improvement. She had adjusted to her new environment, and had fully recovered from her nagging injuries. Her training sessions were more intensive, more progressive. Most importantly, she understood and adjusted to John Marshall's training philosophy.

Being in peak condition, both physically and mentally, Jurga showed everyone that she could run with the best of them and win. Although her accomplishments were many, the more notable ones follow:

• At the Big East Indoor Championships, she led her team to a first place finish in the 4 x 800 relay.
• At the Penn Relays, she helped Villanova win first place in both the Distance Medley and in the 4 x 1500 meter relays.
• At the NCAA Championships, Jurga ran her best 800 meter race. In the semifinals, she set her personal best time of 2: 03.62. Later, in the finals, running against America's best college women runners, she placed 5th with a time of 2:05.68.

At the Big East Outdoors Championships, Jurga ran a very gutsy, courageous 800 meter race. She won in 2:07.48, but the way she did it was truly awe inspiring. With 100 meters to go, Jurga was in fourth place. Everything looked hopeless; her legs felt as if they were made out of lead; her lungs -- as if they would burst any minute. Somewhere, within herself, Jurga found that extra ounce of strength, and courage which enabled her to give that extra kick and win at the tape! Jurga was not finished yet. Two hours later, she ran the 4 x 800 meter relay and helped win another first place for Villanova.

This day, these races, clearly showed that Jurga had what it took to win.

At the end of the season, the NCAA coaches, recognizing her excellent accomplishments, named her All American.

During her first two years, besides carrying all the usual running and the academic pressures, she also had to shoulder pressures of a different kind. Being the first runner from Lithuania to have received a scholarship from an American university, she continuously faced pressures of not disappointing her former Lithuanian coach, and of showing to John Marshall and Villanova that they did not make a mistake when they gave her that scholarship.

She was also acutely aware that her attitude both on and off the track field, her work ethic, her academic achievements would influence the coaches as to how they would view other track and field athletes from Lithuania, and whether they would be granted scholarships.

What does the future hold for Jurga Marcinkeviciute? When asked this question, Jurga stated that at present her goals are: to represent Lithuania in this year's European Outdoor Championships; to obtain her Chemical Engineering degree within the next 18 months; and, after graduation until the year 2000, to continue training with John Marshall. Marshall is a highly respected track and field coach especially for training runners for the 800 meter run. One final goal is to run the 800 meter for Lithuania in the Summer Olympic Games.

The journey to Sydney is still long, having many unforeseen hazards, but with her positive attitude and her willingness to work hard, Jurga will overcome all those challenges and successfully complete her "Journey to Sydney."