CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: For cross country runner Colin Sanders ’08, 2006 felt like a dream. He had only been running since the end of his sophomore year in high school and decided late in his senior year to continue cross country in college. Cast in the shadows of some of Vassar’s strongest runners, Sanders didn’t stand out his first two seasons, but he stuck with it. Then, in the beginning of his junior year, things began to change. Much to everyone’s surprise—especially Sanders—the scale tipped, kicking off an explosive, record-breaking season that took Sanders all the way to the nationals as an All-American.
Vassar’s most recent All-Americans include Emily Love ’09, a double All-American at the Division III National Championships in swimming, Michael Kantor ’06, an NCAA All-American in fencing, and Debbie Sharnak ’07, a two-time first-team tennis All-American and finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
“It definitely came out of nowhere, and I had no idea of my limits or what I was capable of,” says Sanders, who steadily improved his previous season’s times by a wide margin. “I just kept telling myself that I deserved it, but there were always the pre-race jitters of thinking, ‘It’s all just a fluke and won’t happen again.’ I had to realize that it wasn’t a mistake.” But, for the team’s co-captain from Gaylord, Michigan, it was real. He had found his zone, and up against the toughest teams in the conference, he often placed in the top five.
“He was starting to win and building some confidence, and once you open that door of possibility, it just keeps coming. There weren’t any limits,” says head cross country coach James McCowan ’99. By the end of the season, Sanders had earned a coveted spot as an NCAA Division III All-American (the second runner in Vassar’s history to do so), where he competed in the NCAA championships in November, finishing 19th out of 279 runners. He was also named Liberty League Runner of the Year.
Not one to shy away from a new challenge, after the cross country season ended, Sanders, an urban studies major, traveled to Peru for a semester abroad, taking classes and helping to build a center and artisan workshop for young mothers. He spent days doing physical labor, mixing cement in buckets and hoisting them over his shoulder, and shoveling gravel. “It was a completely different and challenging environment,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it was nice because our progress was tangible.” In Peru, the Vassar cross country star’s biggest obstacle wasn’t the physical labor or speaking Spanish— it was the running. “The elevation was a huge blow to my confidence because I felt like I was going to pass out,” he explains, noting the lack of runners in the country. “Whenever I would go running, I’d get confused looks from people saying, ‘Why is that boy in such short shorts? And why is he going so fast? No one’s chasing him!” On one of his runs, he was pursued by a pack of stray dogs and had to withstand eight rounds of rabies shots after one nipped at his leg.
Proving that it takes more than a grueling run or an angry dog to slow him down, Sanders is now back at Vassar for his senior year (where he’s also the senior class president) and is already immersed in a new season of cross country. After achieving so much last season, he’s approaching his senior year with an open mind. “I don’t like to think I’ve already peaked or that it ended and came to a close last year,” he says. “I’m ready to put it all out there, to hold the team and myself to a high standard. We’re much more focused and ambitious, and I would love for us to stand out, not as one, but as a team. I have a great feeling when I think that there are only so many weeks to do something lasting.”