Wake Forest Athletics
Q&A With Marcus Dillon
10/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 8, 2010
This article was originally published in the Oct. 2 edition of Kickoff, the official gameday magazine of Wake Forest football.
Q: What has been your most rewarding experience so far with the track and cross country teams?
A: Last year during outdoor track, I finished fifth in the conference in the steeplechase. That was pretty rewarding for me just because I've had so many injuries and it took a long time to get back. I was finally able to compete at a top level in the conference. It was really the first time I've been able to do that since I've been in college.
Q: Have you suffered any serious running injuries, and if so, how have you gone about treating these injuries?
A: For me, it's been a lot of overuse injuries that have come from previous injuries that led to other things. I spend a lot of time in the training room to try to strengthen different muscles in my legs that I think might be causing problems. For me especially, it has been the muscles around the shins.
Q: What are your post-graduate plans?
A: I'm applying to graduate schools right now for biology, and I'm not sure whether I will do a Masters or a Ph.D. next year, but I'll start on one of those programs. I will hopefully get a Ph.D. in biology and do research to be a professor.
Q: What are some of your pre-race rituals? Are you superstitious about anything?
A: I'm not too bad, but I actually used to be more superstitious than I am now. In terms of eating, I'll still always start eating exactly four hours before a race. I don't really have anything I carry with me or wear during a race, or do right before the race. I just have a regular routine, in terms of warming up, and I don't really like to change that.
Q: What are your goals for this season, both as a team and individually?
A: As a team, we'd like to improve a lot on last year. I didn't get to run last year until the conference meet, but I think things are starting to move in the right direction, and I think as a team we'd really like to improve at least two or three spots in the conference, and then go from there at the Regional meet. In particular, in the conference we'd like to be in the top half this year, which would be a considerable improvement from the last couple of years. For me individually, the big goal for cross country would be to be All-ACC, which would be top 15 at the conference meet, and then go from there into track.
Q: Did you play any other sports growing up?
A: I played hockey until I was about 16. I was pretty small in high school, so I had to stop doing that after getting a couple of concussions, but I played soccer all the way up until college. But, since being in college, I haven't really done anything but run.
Q: Being from Canada, how did you decide to come to the United States for school?
A: It's always been my dream since I was a little kid. My dad went on a running scholarship to the States and my mom was also a runner, so I was always pushed in that direction. In terms of coming to Wake, I was actually recruited by Wake. I knew a couple of people who had come here, and I came on a visit and just loved it. In general, I had always hoped to come to the States.
Q: What has been your favorite class so far at Wake Forest?
A: The most interesting class I have taken was called Evolutionary Genetics. It was taught by a professor, Dr. Zeal, that I'm actually working with now in his lab doing research. That class really changed my perspective on what I wanted to do. I was leaning towards being a high school teacher, or maybe going to graduate school, but after that class, I really decided that I wanted to go to graduate school to do research and become a professor.
