The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Get to know the newcomers: Christina Henderson
10.14.2010 | XC: Women_Old, Track & Field / Cross Country
Oct. 14, 2010
Texas harrier Christina Henderson has mastered the collegiate student-athlete routine. After competing for Columbia University as an undergraduate, the Dallas native returned home to Texas and joined the Longhorns Women's Cross Country team as she pursues a graduate degree in advertising.
Following a strong performance at the Ricardo Romo Invitational, where she placed eighth and posted a time of 18:00, Henderson will return to a familiar place at the ISU Pre-Nationals meet this weekend in in Terre Haute, Ind. Having run the course twice as an undergraduate, Henderson hopes to use her experience to lead the Longhorns to success.
Henderson took some time away from training and studying to talk with TexasSports.com about her experiences, expectations and enjoying being close to home.
Being from Dallas, what is it like to be back in Texas running for the Longhorns? It's been awesome. I love being close to home. I've gotten to go home and visit my family and my parents have gotten to come and watch me race, which they rarely got to do when I was in New York. It just feels good to be home. It's a cool thing to be a part of.
What is it like to already be making an immediate impact for the team running at the ISU Pre-Nationals meet this weekend? When I talked to Steve [Sisson], he knew I had potential and he has high expectations for everyone. I'm really excited, kind of nervous, and I'll be racing Columbia up at Pre-Nationals, so it will be interesting to race my old teammates and coach. The team is great, the girls are great, and it will be fun.
How does having previous collegiate running experience help you heading into this season? I think it definitely helps. I've been to Pre-Nationals twice so I know what to expect, but it's always different switching teams. The workouts have been different, they kind of took awhile to get the hang of, but now I think I've got it. As far as meets go and the pressure and everything, I have been there and I know what to expect.
What do you like about Coach Sisson's training style, and how has it helped you grow as a runner? He is extremely passionate, and as I said, has really high expectations. So you tell him you want to do something, and he is going to do everything he can to get you to that goal. Steve will get all up in your face and if you do well, he is going to tell you. If you do bad, he's going to tell you [laughs]. It's fine, though, I like it. I think it's helping me to run faster than I ever thought I could.
How does running in Austin compare to running in New York? At Columbia we ran in Central Park every day, so it's similar to running at Town Lake. Obviously there are more people in New York, but Austin is such a running community. It seems like everyone is out running, so it's similar to New York because people were always out at Central Park. It's hillier here, though. I can't go on a run without hitting a hill, but that's good for training. Also, the weather is obviously different. It's already cold up in New York, and here it's beautiful, so that's really nice.
How is the transition from Columbia undergraduate to Texas grad student going? I think going to Columbia has helped me learn how to balance academics and athletics now that I'm in grad school and still running. It was challenging academically and so is grad school here, but it was a really smooth transition and I don't feel overwhelmed here.
Why did you choose Texas for your fifth year? After my cross-country season last year, I knew I wasn't done running. I wanted to keep running, but I didn't know how I wanted to do that. I didn't know if I wanted to start training for marathons, or just run for fun, or go to do my fifth year somewhere. When I thought about doing my fifth year, there was nowhere else that I wanted to go but Texas because it's just such an awesome program. The resources that we have available to us through the athletic department are unbelievable.
How do you like running for UT so far? I've only raced once as a Longhorn but it was awesome to wear a Texas uniform. We had people at our first meet come up and ask if they could take a picture with us because we were Texas. People just expect good things from Texas.