Athlete of the Week: Ariana Kelly

Ariana Kelly, MC '99, has consistently found success in the sport of cross country since the day she first decided to run six years ago. Yet as Yale's cross country coach Mark Young ES '68 said, "She has clearly moved to a different level this year. She's the first dominant runner that we've had in the past five years."

It is difficult not to speak in superlatives about Kelly's season thus far: she has won both the Fordham Invitational and a dual meet against Duke. Young, while careful to moderate his optimism, said, "At this point we have to think that she has a shot for the NCAAs."

Kelly began running on her own during the summer before her freshman year of high school. "I have no idea why...I just started," she said. Kelly attended Deerfield Academy from 10th through 12th grade, where she came to appreciate the notion of a scholar-athlete. "Sports are an integral part of private school life, though it is not at all an intense training ground. People participate in them because it is considered the physical balance of all their mental exertions," she said.

Julia Tiernan/YH

At Yale, Kelly has continued to pursue her running career. She consistently placed in the top five spots for Yale runners, and became the top runner on the team by the end of her sophomore year.

Adjusting to college cross-country was not as easy as her success might imply. "The training level and mental and physical intensity are much greater in college. In high school, races are often dual meets, while in college you're often one person in a sea of hundreds. You're not running per se against rivals; you're really running for racing's sake," Kelly explained.

Despite her remarkable personal successes, Ariana is far more interested in the team's standing. "The team comes first. She is not an individual-oriented person," teammate Shannon Miller, TC '99, said.

"What I like about running with her is that she forces people to run better also," Deirdre Brill, TC '99, added.

Kelly, who also competes during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, prefers the feeling of running in the great outdoors that accompanies all of her cross country races. "Indoor is too enclosed, very short and sharp. You don't disappear into the woods for a couple of miles and then come out again," she said.

Although cross country drains her time, Kelly fits in a job and her work as a literature major. She claims that "running probably only made me more efficient." She hopes to eventually write freelance fiction. "Literature is where my strength and my love has been forever," Kelly said. Apparently, it is also this kind of strength and love that she takes with her to the cross country courses.

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