Ceci Hopp St Geme - Interview No. 12
Monday, January 30th, 2012
"I was Not A Regular College Girl"
Ceci Hopp St. Geme started running in 1979 and loved pushing herself from the start. Within a year she gained national attention when she won the 1980 Kenney (now called Foot Locker) National Cross-Country Championships. There were several other girls who were favorites but she beat them all.
Ceci grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and now lives in Newport Beach, California with her husband Ed and their six children. Over the last ten years she has had good success coaching. She is a premier master runner and is still capable of running sub 19 minutes 5ks at age 48.
I see her almost every year in Carlsbad for the 5000. She loves running and her excitement for the sport continues to be as strong as ever. (Interview by Bob Anderson)
1. You were a ballerina and tennis player before you joined your High School track team in 1979.
Yes I danced for the Greenwich Ballet Company from age 6 until high school and wasn't quite flexible enough to take it to the professional level so I picked up tennis hoping to be the next Chris Evert...went out for indoor track my sophomore year at Greenwich High School to get in shape for the spring tennis season but realized I had more of a future as a runner. Back then it was an extracurricular activity to me to help me get into a good college.....girls in the 70's did not dream of getting athletic scholarships yet. By the end of my sophomore spring I was the CT State Champion in the 800 and ran 4:55 for a mile.
Photo Above: Ceci on the last turn of the 2009 Carlsbad 5000. She ran 18:18 and was first 45-49. Photo by Catherine Cross Ujena Fit Club
2. Did you love running right from the start?
Yes, I loved that the harder I tried and worked correlated so directly to improvement...not always the case in tennis or other team sports. It was the perfect competitive outlet for me.
3. Then you won the Kinney National Cross Country Championships in 1980?
Yes, I had been injured my junior spring with stress fractures in my shins which made me so hungry to train and compete my senior year...I was very similar to Jordan Hasay running away from my competition from the gun...even at the Kinney (now Footlocker) meet I ran away from the favorites Vicky Cook, Polly Plumer and Lynn Strauss and never looked back finishing in 17:12 on the old Balboa Park Course that had the switchbacks.
Photo: 1980 Kinney Cross-Country Meet
4. What kind of training did you do in high school?
So much of my success I high school stemmed from my years of ballet and tennis beforehand..I did not start running until I was 16...and am not a big fan of age group running. I was never high mileage (30-35 miles per week) had a different coach for each season, but one Club coach Bill Mongovan of the Gateway Track Club (who still coaches at Greenwich High School) kept me on track for regional and national competition. Lots of 200's and 400's on the track, and hilly six mile runs on the back roads of Greenwich, Conn.
Photo: My six kids hanging out at the beach.
5. Were your parents totally behind you?
Yes, especially my Dad who played football at Columbia and treated me like his oldest son athletically...always filming me and advising me in a very quiet manner. I still remember NCAA's at BYU in 1982 where I had a large 100m lead going into the last straight away and the altitude hit me...I wasn't sure I would make it to the finish line and I picked my dad's voice out of the crowd shouting at me to go to my arms and they carried me to the finish in first by one second!
Photo: My coach Bill Sumner and I before the start of a race.
6. Did you have a good coach?
I have been lucky to have a number of great coaches! In high school Garland Allen (the boys basketball coach..he coached Steve Young too) was my track coach and I won the USATF (TAC back then) 3000m nationals in 9:21 under his guidance. At Stanford and professionally I just loved being coached by Brooks Johnson...he was unbelievably motivation and I won the NCAA's and USATF 5000m titles under his watch and was top ten in cross country four times once finishing second to Lynn Jennings. He was all about speed...fast repeats with full recovery. As a masters athlete I have been coached by Bill Sumner who is an incredible coach on any level though he chooses to focus on high school athletes. I wish I had been able to run for him as an open athlete as I think I would not have struggled with as many injuries under his guidance.
7. Why do you think you were able to push yourself...dominating the cross-country and track scene?
I love to run, love to be in shape, and was so darn competitive....really liked to win!
8. What was a typical day like then?
In high school during the winter we would often have to run laps indoors around the student center (11 laps to the mile) or around the shoveled parking lot. I ran a lot with the boys by my senior year...or on my own on the roads..I had so much fun training and competing for GHS.
Photo: I enjoy running the Carlsbad 5000 (this is in 2009)
9. You must of been flooded with offers from colleges?
There were not that many strong women's programs yet....my dad really wanted me to go to an Ivy League but many of them were just starting programs for women....it came down to Harvard, Princeton, and UVA. Then I went to Stanford in February of my senior year and met Brooks Johnson. It was only the second year they gave women athletic track scholarships...
10. Was it hard to leave Connecticut?
No, I really wanted a warmer climate and to experience California. I was so excited to have earned a full scholarship so my dad didn't have to pay for my education (I have four younger siblings) and very excited to run for Brooks. Stanford is an Ivy League education with world class athletics that you can't get on the same level at any other University.
Photo: Hanging out with my running girlfriends...they are having way too much fun.
11. What was it like running at Stanford?
TOUGH! We had a very talented team and we beat each other up quite a bit in practice....but also pushed each other to the top. Pattisue Plumer and I went 1-2 at NCAA's and Kim Schnurpfeil won the 10,000 both at NCAA's and TAC's. We finished second at NCAA cross country nationals three years in a row..missing the title each time because of injuries. Regina Jacobs was also on this squad...
12. What kind of workouts were you doing then?
Mile repeats on the golf course were at 4:39 to 4:46. One workout we had was a mile around the Stanford stadium then drop down to the track for a 400 ....eight of these. Regina Pattisue and I would push the 400s trying to go under 60 each time and the longer distance gals would push the recovery mile under 6min! Brooks also had us do a lot of 100's and barefoot diagonals on the grass working on form..mostly arms.
Photo: Racing at the Carlsbad 5000 (2009)...she ran 18:18.
13. Did you have time to be a "regular" college girl?
I joke with my daughters that my sorority was SU TRACK...no I was not a regular college girls although I had some fun and did well academically earning my masters with my fifth red shirted year. What a lot of people don't realize when they tell a person they are so lucky to earn a scholarship is that it was hard work to earn it, and collegiate athletes earn every penny of their scholarships...it is a full time job on top of school in college.
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