Canadian freshman runner makes up for lost training

You would think moving nearly a thousand miles from the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, to Lincoln, Neb., for college would be pretty jarring. Imagine leaving socialized health care, having to learn Fahrenheit and un-learning the metric system.

For Jessica Furlan, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Nebraska is exactly the same as Saskatchewan, except Nebraska is a bit warmer and has corn instead of wheat," Furlan said.

The freshman cross country runner, a Regina native, has had a tougher time just catching up to her teammates and getting to where she needs to be in her training regimen.

"I'm not a strong as I would like to feel," Furlan said. "I feel like I'm improving, though. It's getting better as it goes on."

The setback in her training can be attributed to her heavy track workload this summer. Furlan competed in both the IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland and the Canadian Junior Championships in British Columbia in July.

She took ninth in the 3000-meter steeplechase in Poland with a personal-best time of 10:16 and won the 2000-meter steeple in Canada, but NU Coach Jay Dirksen said finishing her track season so late naturally set her back in her preparation for the fall running season.

"Jessica was competing overseas when everyone else was getting three months of good base work in," Dirksen said. "She's behind in her training and kind of playing catch-up."

Furlan has only run in the Woody Greeno meet in Lincoln, where she finished 29th, and the South Dakota State Classic (30th) thus far. She is starting to get back to where she used to be.

"She's making progress, and she's got a shot to make the conference team," Dirksen said.

Because there were only a few girls who competed in steeplechase in her province, Furlan would have had to travel if she wanted to find a good race.

She's made many trips to the Midwest for meets, which made moving here easier.

She also has competed in the Czech Republic, and she's spent time in Kenya, going with her family for a month at a time in 2006 and 2007 to help raise funds for the building of a high school.

"She's quite mature," Dirksen said. "She has lots of experience traveling and being exposed to a lot of different competition, so from that standpoint, the transition to college has been fairly easy."

"I'm pretty independent, from traveling by myself a lot," Furlan said. "I thought (the separation from family) would be pretty bad, but I'm just too busy to miss them; I just don't have time."

Furlan will head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Chile Pepper Festival meet on Oct. 18, so having two weeks between meets to train will certainly help her progress toward normalcy and ready her for the spring track season.

"She's really going to be an outstanding athlete for us before it's all done," Dirksen said. "In track she'll be outstanding, and in another year, we'll see her really shine in cross country."

maxolson@dailynebraskan.com