This Fall sees the return of 'The Exchange Zone,' with athletes talking to athletes about their seasons, their training, and what makes them tick. With us this fall are two former New York athletes, with Ryan Healy taking on the Boys Interviews, and Izzie Sullivan taking on the girls. Be sure to tune in and get to know your favorite athletes across the Empire State, and beyond.
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Knowing the Course: Coming back from Disappointment with Owen Conley
Owen Conley (Colonie) can do it all. With 1:54.44 800m speed to 15:05.50 5K strength, the Senior from Colonie is truly a force to be reckoned with in all areas.
After a very strong season opening win at the Queensbury Invitational (Pre-States), Conley is putting the state and the nation on notice. Two weeks later, he finished 8th in the merge at a competitive Bowdoin Park Classic on September 27th, making his way to a 16-second course PR. For Owen, being familiar with a course is extremely valuable; it can help to be calming mentally and an overall advantage for performance. Throughout the course of the summer, he took this notion to heart, running several race-specific workouts on the nearby Queensbury course, the host of the state meet, and acclimating himself to race specifics at Bowdoin, the host of the NXR/Federations meet. These preparations and sense of familiarity allow him to be ready to race once the postseason comes and perform when it matters, giving him an extra edge on the other competition.
He is doing everything that he can to prepare for the postseason this year, giving himself lots to prove and look forward to, especially after last season's disappointing end. After winning Sectionals as an individual and as a team, Owen was ready to carry this success over to States and Regionals. However, not all of his cards were aligned. He finished 2nd at the state meet to another impressive runner, Ryan Sykes, by only .5 seconds and his team finished 3rd after having an impressive resume during the season and a chance to win it all. The following week, the Colonie squad gave it another go at gold but still ended up finishing in 3rd place, 16 points behind a trip to nationals. Owen also finished 16th and had to end his season with a struggling result.
Unlike the majority of last year's Colonie team, Owen is fortunate enough to have another season left, with room to grow and more fuel added to the fire. He has big goals for this year and not only wants to make a trip to NXN but compete with the best of the best there. He feels that it is awesome to have someone like Sykes to be able to compete at such a high level against at local invitationals, challenging each other and bringing out the best in them both.
Owen has not always been the speedster that he is today. There was once a time when he was a huge baseball guy. But after being introduced to the sport in middle school, he fell in love with it and decided to stop playing baseball in 7th grade. Since that moment, he has developed a deep connection with the sport, as it gives you the opportunity to "challenge yourself every day" and "chase goals" that can only be found in running.
While being uncommitted to a college at the moment, he has "talked to a bunch of schools" and is "definitely planning" on furthering his running career. He is searching for a program that is competitive at a national level and fosters a positive team environment, lifting each other up to achieve their goals.
But for now, Owen is still focused on how he can perform to the best of his abilities during his final high school cross country season. A big part of his training comes down to knowing why he is running certain workouts or performing certain drills. This allows him to figure out what works and what doesn't as well as how this hard work will directly contribute to his performance in meets.
One of Owen's favorite aspects of the sport is that he is able to be competitive at any event. Whether it comes down to having strong closing speed at the end of a 5K or having that cross country strength in an 800, Owen will be present in the race and ready to strike. He is ready to showcase that in the following months, whether the race be fast or slow.
Following a strong start to his season, he is "feeling really good and excited to go race." Hard work pays off and Owen is looking forward to showing all of the hard work that he has put in and course specific workouts that he has been maximizing.
