By Scott Doane
UWRF Sports Information

According to "World Book Encyclopedia" the average racehorse can run 1,600 meters in an average of a minute and a half.   So if a thoroughbred wanted to run the women's cross country 6,000-meter race, it could finish in a little over five minutes. For senior Stephanie Jicinsky, this is good information to know if she ever wanted to race against her two horses, Dinah and Charlie.

Jicinsky is a pre-vet major at UW-River Falls. She has already been accepted to the veterinarian program at UW-Madison and starts next fall. She would like to work as a large animal veterinarian when she earns her veterinarian degree.

"I'm not sure if I want to work with just horses or maybe cows and other livestock too," Jicinsky said about her future career. "I want to start in an ambulatory practice. Maybe someday I'll get my own practice, but not right away."

Step On the Captain

This season, Jicinsky is one of three senior captains of the women's cross country team.   She is the sixth runner on the team. She brings a lot of good things to the table.

"Steph brings a lot of good humor," Falcon Coach Don Glover said about the senior captain. "She's a great organizer and a take charge person. She organizes a lot of events to keep the women's team close."

An example of Jicinsky's good humor is the nickname her team has for her, Step-On-Me.   The origins of the name have been questioned however.

"My coach in high school called me that," Jicinsky said, "I don't remember why. We would put it on the back of t-shirts. I wore one of the shirts to practice here one day my freshman year here and coach picked up on it."  

Jicinsky has been improving throughout this season. She knocked 30 seconds off her time from the Griak Invite to the Blugold Invite.  

"She's really improved," Glover said about Jicinsky, "She put in a good summer. I think she can move up even farther."

Hurdling to Cross Country

Jicinsky began running cross country her sophomore year in at Baraboo High School.   She originally ran track in seventh grade. There, she ran the hurdles, but discovered that it was not her greatest event.

'It just didn't really work out that well," Jicinsky said about her track experience. "My coaches didn't think I was coordinated. So they sent me out with the distance coach and that kind of stuck."

In her freshman year of high school, her friends tried to get her to join cross country. She said that she made some excuses on why she didn't want to run. Finally, in her sophomore year, she gave in and found out she really enjoyed cross country more than track.

Jicinsky has had a lot of good moments on the cross country course. Baraboo qualified for the state championships for the first time in school history. This was during her sophomore year. Her best collegiate cross country moment was last year at the WIAC Meet in River Falls. There, she ran her best time in her college career which was 26:07.

"Our team did well, it was at home and there were a lot of fans," Jicinsky said about the meet. "It was a good way to end the year for me."

Why River Falls?

The agricultural science and equine programs were the main factors in Jicinsky's decision to come to River Falls.  

"The animal science program and agricultural in general are well known and respected," Jicinsky said about the University, "I knew I could start a good education here."

In her spare time, when she's not riding horses or running, Jicinsky usually just spends time with people. She just spends time with her roommates, or her boy friend, or the team. She also is involved with other clubs and organizations. She is a member of the pre-vet club and is an adviser with Outreach Advising. This is her second year with the group. She is an adviser for Prucha Hall. Advisers at Outreach Advising answer any questions about academics or anything that happens on campus.

Making It Across the Finish Line

Jicinsky hopes that she and the team have a strong finish to the season. Her personal goal is to run in the WIAC Meet in Superior and break 26:00. She'd like to go out with her best time ever as a Falcon. As a team, she'd like to have their highest finish ever at the conference meet and at the regional meet.

"Coach likes to train the team so we're having our best races by the region meet," Jicinsky said. "We hope to have our best finish there. Hopefully this will be another record for us."