Senior Julie Roth clears the hurdles at a meet last season. Tim McKinney
Julie Roth, a motivated and competitive athlete with scores of accomplishments under her belt, has found a new challenge for herself as captain of Cornell's women's track team.
Roth humbly describes herself as "someone who puts her points in," a consistent runner on whom the team relies to get a few points each meet. She insists that she's not a star, but Roth has been a standout from the start. As a freshman Roth shattered Cornell's frosh triple jump record and has continued to shine throughout her career.
Roth's biggest strength as a runner lies in her competitiveness. "Get me next to anyone I'm supposed to beat in the Ivy League and I'll do anything I need to beat them," she said recently. She thrives under competitive circumstances, and she says she enjoys running track, as opposed to team sports, because, "In running, there is always someone next to you, either pushing you or pulling you."
Roth balances her competitive spirit with a strong sense of team cohesion. Two major factors motivate her, she says: a team member performing especially well and a team member working exceptionally hard.
She found inspiration in an occurrence at the recent Yale and Bucknell meet. One team member was having a particularly bad day. The team rallied around her with everyone standing around the track cheering her on as she ran, and the athlete won her race. Roth loves to see her team feed off its own energy when everyone is in full support of each other.
As captain, Roth wants to focus on bringing the team even closer together. Her freshman year the Big Red was more segregated, with members of a specific event primarily socializing with other members of similar events. In the last couple of years, Roth has watched her captains bring the team together. According to Roth, the team has been developing into a mixed entity, and Roth wants to continue the trend. She plans to organize a dance to further integrate the huge team and already has organized a successful ice-skating get-together for the women's team.
The role of captain keeps Roth more focused. It helps her balance her schoolwork with her athletics and not allow her to get too caught up in school. Roth says it enables her to further appreciate the team because her new role will make her rethink things. Roth finds the role of captain challenging, and she is eager to do a good job even though everyone might not agree with what she does.
Roth's team and her parents support her in her endeavors. Her father has been to every meet, and her mother's good wishes are always with her, she says.
In the future of Roth's track career is the pole vault (performed on the West Coast as an exhibition event), something she has always wanted to do. Anything may be possible for Julie Roth, a track star who exudes enough intensity, competitiveness and talent to challenge any feat.