Loyola-Blakefield senior Kenny Rowe, the state of Maryland's fastest returning half miler with his 1:52.80 800 meter PR has decided on where he will be taking his middle distance running talents next fall. Rowe has committed to Georgetown University to join a program which has a great history of producing and developing distance runners. Rowe is not just a top performer on the track as he currently in the midst of finishing up his senior season of cross country for the Dons of Loyola-Blakefield and finished fourth at last week's MIAA Championships. Check out our interview below with Rowe on his college decision.
Interview with Loyola-Blakefield's Kenny Rowe
Congrats on making our college decision. How does it feel?
It feels pretty great, I have known I wanted to go to Georgetown for a long time so it felt good to finally commit.
Did you always think you would go to a school relatively close to home or look at schools further away from home as well?
All three of my brothers went to school in DC, so i naturally wanted to do the same, so I kept my list of schools pretty close to home.
Being more of a middle distance runner and 800 as best event, when looking at programs did you look at how schools trained or had past success with their middle distance runners?
I definitely took that into consideration, and knowing how successful Georgetown has been in recent years and historically, really appealed to me. It isn't just about success though, I needed to know that the training would help me the best I could be as a runner, and I originally didn't know too much about their training, but once I learned about it I realized it was a perfect fit for me.
What other schools were you looking at or made visits to?
I had visits planned at UVA and Villanova but cancelled them when I committed to Georgetown.
After running 1:52 800 as a junior in high school, do you think sub 1:50 is something you can possibly accomplish before graduating high school or early into college career?
Breaking 1:50 is my goal for senior year, and it is obviously a huge goal but I am confident I can get there. I want to be all American indoor and outdoor in the 800 and if I just get myself into highly competitive races the time will come.
You have been pretty successful going up in range to the 5K for high school XC, but how about the challenge of going up to 8K and potentially 10K in college XC?
Making the jump from 5k to 8-10k seems like it would be tough and a pretty big adjustment, and I think the increase in mileage would be tough for me to do considering how my mileage is during track season. I probably average right around 20 miles during the track season so I'm not sure what I will be doing.
What advice would you give to other runners yet to go through the recruiting process?
I would tell them to keep their options open and make visits to a few schools to solidify their #1 choice. Junior year is really important so make sure you make the most out of it and run your fastest time possible so you can get recruited.
