UMD Track Star Liz Palkie

     Chocolate is one of Liz Palkie’s favorite things, but not during running season. Nutrition is an ally of the Minnesota Duluth senior, who competes in a third straight NCAA Division II outdoor track and field championship starting Friday in San Angelo, Texas.

     Eating well, lifting weights and training without injuries has made 2009 a crowning year for the most accomplished woman runner in UMD history.
     “When you combine cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, you are competing for nine strenuous months,” says Matt Kramer of Cloquet, Palkie’s fiancée and a former Division III track All-American at Wisconsin-Superior. “You need long-term dedication and Liz is dedicated and motivated, and always challenges herself.

     “She’s always thinking about how hard someone else is training, and she wants to train more. Late at night, she might start doing an abdominal workout because she believes it will give her an edge during a race.”

     The preparation has paid off. Palkie, 23, has qualified for six Division II track meets, two Division II cross country meets and is a four-time track All-American.

     She is UMD’s 2009 senior woman athlete of the year and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference woman track athlete of the year. This season she set school records for 800 meters indoors (2 minutes, 10.65 seconds) and outdoors (2:10.61), in addition to the UMD 1,500 outdoor record (4:35.05).

     “Liz came to us as a hockey player who loved to run and she adapted so well to running full time,” said UMD cross country and track coach John Fulkrod. “She has great form, a great work ethic and a great mental strength. And as good as she is as an athlete, she’s even a better person.”

     Palkie has been a star in Northeastern Minnesota since 2000, when placing third in the Minnesota Class A high school girls cross country meet as a Carlton ninth-grader. She won Minnesota Class A 1,600-meter track titles as a sophomore and junior in 2002 and 2003. She was a forward on two Class AA girls state hockey all-tournament teams for Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, including CEC’s state runner-up season in 2003.

     Hockey drew Palkie to the University of Minnesota where she played 78 games with the Gophers over two seasons before transferring to UMD in the fall of 2006.

     Neither she nor Fulkrod can remember how they settled on 800 meters, but she’s excelled at the distance with a combination of strength and speed, and the ability to run well from the front. Palkie was second in the 2007 and 2009 Division II indoor championships and fourth in the 2008 Division II outdoor meet. Fulkrod believes she has a chance to win an NCAA title this week.

     “My goals at UMD were to become an All-American and dramatically lower my times. I’ve wanted to perform well under pressure and believe in myself,” said Palkie, who is 5-foot-6 and 120 pounds. “This last year has been amazing in cross country and track because our teams are so good. I do miss hockey, but I’m so happy I’m running.”

     Freshman Morgan Place has helped spark Palkie’s senior season. Place finished seventh in the 2008 Division II cross country championships, as UMD placed a school-best eighth, and set school records at 5,000 and 10,000 meters on the track. Place is entered in both events this week.

     “Every time we run, Liz is giving her best,” said Place. “She’s very driven, very passionate, she goes above and beyond what’s required, and she enjoys it.”

     Palkie, a B student, earned a psychology degree last week, while Kramer earned an exercise science degree at UWS. They’ve known each other since second grade and have an Oct. 10 wedding date for Queen of Peace Church in Cloquet. Both are planning to enter nursing programs in the area and will continue to run. Kramer is trying his hand at triathlons.

     * Palkie and Place will be joined this week by senior teammates Alyssa Wendt at 800 meters and Maria Swanson in the shot put and hammer throw.

  Minnesota State Mankato junior Kelsey Leonard of Hermantown will compete at 400 meters (with a best of 56.38) and in the 400-meter relay.

Posted by: pates on 5/21/2009 at 3:16 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: 800 meters, john flulkrod, liz palkie, morgan place, running, track and field, umd