Athlete of the Week – Iliya Demchenko
PC junior and varsity cross country athlete Iliya Demchenko has been named Jersey Mike’s Athlete of the Week. Iliya shares his answers to AD Lyslo’s Q+A below.
Iliya, congratulations on being named PC athlete of the week. You and your team have really surprised a lot of people with how well you all have run. There’s a genuine excitement to see this group maybe get to state. How do you feel about the season so far?
Our team has been doing absolutely amazing so far, and we genuinely have a chance to make it to state. The cross country team is at its peak and we have so many talented people running, it’s very exciting, and I believe we can actually make it.
Coming into the season, you were a returning runner who had a lot of success last year. How hard did you work this offseason and do you feel more confident this year?
Last year’s season was the motivation for me to run in the offseason. I ran from ten miles to a marathon distance to improve my stamina and speed, and the progress could be seen when I ran during the track and field season. During the summer, I continued running marathons during the summer to prepare for this year’s cross country season, and now we can see the results of all the hard work.
The cross country numbers are much higher this year compared to years past. Do you feel the bigger team has helped push you all to compete against each other and go after a spot at state?
Our team has grown by a lot, and it makes things much more fun because we encourage each other and more people can now cheer each other on. It also makes for much more social and fun interactions on bus rides. As a team, we help and encourage each other, and having more people helps us want to out-run each other in a competitive way.
Besides yourself, you have stood out in practice so far this season and who is pushing you to become a better runner each day?
Being the fastest runner on the team puts a lot of pressure on me, and makes me want to do my absolute best and to push my team to the top ranks. Mr. Jannsen encourages me every practice, and trains me every day so that I can constantly improve my speed and stamina.
In looking at your times as a team, you guys are really competitive and should be a top 10 team. You run in a very competitive league though. What’s it going to take to get to state and how motivated are you guys now to go after that?
Us knowing that we genuinely have a chance to make it to state makes us much more competitive, our only worry is that we are racing against some of the fastest teams in state, but knowing that makes us want to do our best at all times and always keep improving.
So if you had to look four weeks ahead from today, you are right there on the verge of competing for state. What would be a perfect scenario for you and your team and what will it take to accomplish this?
The perfect scenario would be for our guys to stay close together and encourage each other to run faster during the race. If our team can stay together and as less spread out as possible, we will be able to place high and boost our team’s score. It’s hard to explain, but there is definitely a team strategy involved.
