Better late than never… Kaylie Dziedzina committed to UNCW for track and cross country on October 24th, 2022. Before taking up track and cross country, Kaylie was a very talented level 8 gymnast. You would never know that she has only been on the track/XC team for a little less than two years now. She has quickly embraced her talent in the running world, with a 1600m time of 5:17 as well as a 3200m time of 11:21. She continues to succeed on the track, as she will also be competing at the New Balance Nationals next week in Boston, MA. It is not often that someone plays a sport for this amount of time and gets the opportunity to go D1. I got the chance to catch up with her:

What was your recruitment process like?

“My recruitment process was a pretty long process. I did not think I would ever get the opportunity to run in college and at the beginning of my junior year, my mindset wasn’t to run at the collegiate level. Towards the end of my junior year was when I started to see myself running at the collegiate level, as my times were progressing in a short amount of time from coming off an injury as well. I knew I could get myself there but it would take patience and time, knowing that I am new to this sport. I started putting myself out there to the schools that I was interested in and at the start of the summer was when I started contacting college coaches. It was a very hard process as I feel that for each coach, I have to recruit myself as much as they would want to recruit me. That part of the process was a different and new feeling. I kept my emails consistent throughout the summer, updating my stats on how my cross-country season was going. As the cross country was coming to an end, the recruitment process started putting itself in place since I knew who I wanted to run for.”

What made you choose UNCW? 

“I chose UNCW because I love the area so much. It provides everything I would want; the beach, walking/biking trails, shopping centers, and a very active community. When I went on my official visit, the team was so welcoming and after spending the night with them, I just knew that they would become my family if I chose to commit. UNCW also provides a great exercise science program and the campus itself is so beautiful.”

How long have you been involved with track & XC? What caused you to switch from gymnastics to track & XC? 

“A big aspect of what made me switch from gymnastics to track was the drive that track gives me vs gymnastics. When I did gymnastics, I constantly felt drained and never wanted to go to the practices. I felt like it was becoming more of a chore rather than a sport, but with track every single day I cannot wait to run. I love the way it makes me feel and even on hard days, I come out of practice with a smile on my face. I have been running track and field for roughly for a year and a half, but I have struggled with stress fractures and injuries throughout so I was not consistently running for that long. This is actuallymy first year of cross country!  I am extremely thankful that I was given the opportunity to run at the division one level.”

What excites you the most about getting to continue your running career at the collegiate level? 

“Being able to room with girls that are just as motivated as me excites me the most for next year. Also being able to go on long runs on the weekends then get breakfast and stay on the beach all day makes me so eager to fast forward with the year.”

How has Green Level influenced you as a runner? 

“Green level has influenced me as a runner by providing me with a huge support system of friends, teachers, and coaches. I feel like balancing academics with athletics has never been a struggle for me at Green Level and if it was, my coaches would help me through it.” 

Congrats Kaylie! We wish you the best of luck and can’t wait to see all that you accomplish at UNCW. Go Seahawks!