Back in February, former Carroll Dragon runner Connor Hendrickson, who graduated in 2014, ran a top-10 finish for the Team USA junior men at the APA Pan American Cross Country Cup in Barranquilla, Columbia.
Hendrickson, who attends the University of Texas and runs track and cross country, registered a ninth-place finish in 19:47 and helped Tean USA defeat Canada, according to an article on MySouthlakeNews.
He redshirts the track & field seasons this year while recovering from a shin injury and preparing for a June qualifying event for Team USA. If he performs to standard there, he'll compete again in August in Canada, in hopes of winning the outdoor championship.
We caught up with Hendrickson to talk about his accomplishments so far and goals for the future.
Southlake Style: Talk about your top 10 finishbrat the APA Pan American Cross Country Cup ... What was that like?
Connor Hendrickson: It was just an incredible opportunity. I’m really thankful.brVery excited it all worked out and got to do it. It was an awesome experience to go down.brWe had four other top juniors - high school and college freshman athletes - runningbrwith me as well.
For the race, it was just an indescribable experience. WhenbrI finished, I realized, 'Wow this is an incredible opportunity.'
It's kind of funny. The location in Columbia we were at wasbrnot by any means a vacation spot you'd pick to travel, but the people who werebrthere - and to have other individuals who surrounded their life by running andbrwere achieved and accomplished runners - we had a great time. Everyone whobrparticipated in that event bonded together. We all knew how to have a goodbrtime, but we were also very focused and dedicated as to why we were there.
SS: Tell me more aboutbrTeam USA.
Hendrickson: I was pretty lucky. I was on the USA Junior Team. Basicallybranyone who’s born after 1996 for this year. That means a lot ofbrfreshman in college aren’t eligible, because they’re too old. I’m born on Jan. 25, so I was one ofbrthe oldest competing. It all fell into place and worked out. Anyone can enterbrinto the race. It’s in Boulder, Colorado this year. I flew out there with mybrmom and family. I met my high school coach up there and we hung out for a while andbrraced.
As far as future plans go, I'm in the stretch of an injury. I got a stress reaction in my shin. I hit the USA Junior outdoor track qualifyingbrtime. This is a track meet held at the end of June. It's in accordance with thebrUSA outdoor championships. I think the qualifying time was 14:40 and I ran abr14:36 for 5K. Hopefully the plan is to get up there in late-June where I'll trybrto qualify for another Pan-Am event in Canada in August.
SS: How’s your first yearbrat school shaping up?
Hendrickson: First semester was a typical freshman year: naive, excitingbrand fast. The second semester was taking more hours, trying to get on path forbrmajor. I’m pursuing a degree in engineering. Classes and workload are catchingbrup to me, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love being in Austin. I havebrthe greatest teammates I’ve ever had. It’s awesome being around the guysbrwanting to succeed so bad. They push you to be the best and make sure you havebra good time doing.
SS: You're redshirting this year. How does that affect your career, and why did you make that decision?
Hendrickson: I ran cross country this year in uniform. I was talking to Coach [Brad] Herbster and the USA cross country race was in early February around the indoor season. The plan was tobrrun the cross country race, and if I qualified, I would redshirt indoor. So I did.
Then Ibrtrained for track and got a stress fracture in my shin. Instead of rushing tobrget back for the conference meet, I redshirted for outdoor and prepared for juniorsbrto give that a shot. At Texas, I'm a 5K/10K distance person. We also have fourbrgraduating seniors running there. There will be a gap to fill in the comingbryears.
SS: Do you see yourself as a leader of this team in the future?
Hendrickson: I wouldn’t necessarily say that our team is one that needsbrone specific individual to step up and take the reigns. Craig Lutz is an All-American and a very good runner. He’s very good at weighing in the options ofbrother seniors and people who have been there before. They do a good job leadingbrus with advice we as freshman need. We have 8 freshmen. I wouldn’t rather havebr8 other guys anywhere. We’re all collaborative with the same ideal and samebrgoal. There's not a need for us to have one individual. We’re focused on beingbra team.
SS: Talk about Carroll and how itbrprepared you for all of this.
Hendrickson: Southlake is indescribable in so many ways in how it’sbrprepared me for college. To begin with academics, even at Texas, one of the topbrpublished schools in the country, I’m so far ahead of the game with AP credits.brI felt very prepared so far.
Athletically, when I was coming in asbra freshman, the Southlake guys team was nothing special. We didn't qualify inbrdistricts. My freshman year and after that, they grasped an ideology, embracedbrit and took it to the max. We went pedal to the metal for four years. I have nobrregrets in doing anything. We pushed ourselves to be the best every day. Ibrstill see coming back that tradition is still there. They still have that fightbrand fire.
I'm very excited to see what they do moving forward. Coach Leonard isbra great guy, great coach, incredible mentor. Everyone there, whether they knowbrit or not, is blessed and lucky to be there. It's truly one of the top programsbrin the nation and you couldn't ask for anything more to prepare you forbrcollege.