Amie Ely is Review athlete of the year

Despite the prevailing attitudes toward varsity sports at Oberlin, numerous talented athletes grace our playing fields, courts, pool and track lanes each year. Several win conference honors, and a few even get the chance to compete at the national level. These standouts also lend more to their teams then just statistics. They are team leaders and respected as for their sportsmanship.

In looking to name one Yeoathlete as our annual athlete of the year, we look for this combination of individual and team success along with strength in personal character. While many athletes over the past year possessed some or all of these qualities, senior Amie Ely's performance on the indoor and outdoor track teams was far and away the best of the bunch.

To begin with, her individual accomplishments have earned her enough hardware to fill several shelves. She placed third or better in ten individual or relay events during both the indoor and outdoor seasons (see sidebar for full list). Ely retained the no. 1 ranking in the both the 55 and 100-meter hurdles during the duration of the indoor and outdoor seasons respectively. She also anchored the 4x100-meter and 4x200-meter relays which set school records-the latter set a conference record.

At indoor championships, Ely won the 55-meter hurdles and was a member of both the relay teams that placed first. Outdoors, her accomplishments were even greater as she won the long jump, heptathalon, 400 and 100-meter hurdles and again was a part of both first place relays. The six victories were the most ever by a female at NCAC championships.

"There's no question that she had an outstanding career and an outstanding senior year," said head track and field coach Tom Mulligan who has coached Ely through her entire collegiate career. "Her performance [at] the conference meet was as good as any athlete I've seen have in a conference championship in the 15 years I've been here."

Her score in the heptathalon at championships was high enough to automatically qualify Ely for the NCAA Division III nationals at Baldwin Wallace. Her reaction was predictable: "I was pretty excited. I felt like this was definitely a once in a lifetime experience... up until now, it never really was a viable option."

Having entered the weekend ranked seventh, Ely hoped to maintain the same high level of competition she had displayed her entire career. It was not to be however as she finished 12th. Coach Mulligan felt that there is no telling how well she could have done in another year. "In her four years, every time she had the chance to do something again, she got better," he said. "She only had one shot at [nationals]."

Neither she nor her coaches, however, were blind to the fact that the scores meant less than the experience of nationals and the fact that she had come so far. "The fact that she was able to [automatically] qualify for nationals put her among the elite athletes," Mulligan said.

"When I was there, it was kind of interesting to see other athletes and teams who had [nationals] as a goal all year," Ely said. "It was exciting just to have it as a goal."

"I think I was doing as well as can be expected for two years worth of work," she said with a smile. One of the top finishers at nationals had competed in six heptathalons this season. Ely's participation at nationals marked the sixth time in her career she had competed in the hep.

Ely felt somewhat frustrated with her performance knowing that several teammates had come to watch her compete, and more were pulling for her as they studied for finals. Her focus on her fellow Yeopeople isn't limited to when they're cheering for her. Ely has co-captained the women's squad for the last three years. "In many ways she was the heart and soul of the women's team and she provided a lot of energy that other women could tap into," Mulligan said. But for every ounce of herself Ely put into OC track and field, she feels she's gotten much more in return.

"Obviously I have to give thanks to the team," Ely said. "When I look back at four years of Oberlin, track is right there; it's taken a lot of time and it's given me a lot. It's really bittersweet to leave now. I feel I'm finally on top of my game.

"I'll really miss my team. We've worked together and worked through things together. We had people, athletes and coaches, leave us unexpectedly. Sometimes we had success, sometimes it didn't pan out the way we wanted [but] I don't think anyone from any other teams would have anything but respect for us now and we didn't have that when I came in."

As for the legacy she leaves behind, Amie prefers to look at the current crop of rising stars. "Our team has the chance to really continue to capitalize on the success of this year, if the work ethic I saw carries into the offseason." She intends to aid this transition of work ethic via harassing emails.

While she clearly dominated her events this season, success didn't always come so seemingly effortlessly. "When I came in my freshman year, I tried to play basketball and while I lasted the entire season, it definitely wasn't a positive experience." Ely said. "I didn't think I could bring much to Oberlin College athletics. Even on track; my first year I didn't place in anything,"

But hard work, team support and a great coaching staff helped her to steadily improve. Her sophomore year, she managed all-conference honors in the long jump. A year later, she was part of the 4x400-meter relay which won the conference meet .

"I really have to thank the coaches," Ely said. "Especially this year, I felt like I had two surrogate dads. And if someone tells me to hydrate again...

"Coach Nally gave me the most shit and the best instruction in events that are pretty challenging to pick-up... and Mulligan, he was the PowerGoo {ed. note- a jelly produced by PowerBar with the same nutritional qualities. Mulligan handed it out at championships} that held the team together. Our coaching staff is really great; they definitely deserve a lot of nods here."

Despite all the joy her participation in track has brought her, Ely feels there were things lacking from her college sports experience. "I don't feel students here have a lot of respect for athletes-not to say that athletes should be raised to god-like status [but] since there isn't a huge amount of institutional support for track-or for sports in general, you make your own support; you make something important to you because it's important to you, not because of praise you're going to receive.

"It makes it sure you care about something before you invest a lot of time. The team has shown that they care a lot."

Despite, or probably because of her deflection of attention onto the team, the accolades may not have stopped rolling in yet. Ely was recently named NCAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and has been nominated by the college for the NCAA scholar athlete award. "Amie certainly has the credentials to win the award and become the first Oberlin athlete to do so since [now basketball and track coach] Ann Gilbert did it. She epitomizes what you would consider a student athlete- or in her case really a scholar athlete."

Regardless of the award's outcome, the future looks good for Ely. This summer, she will be working with Runner's World magazine designing webpages. After that, she plans to head to Wyoming to research unanswered questions about a legal case with some personal meaning." For now, she's enjoying senior week and taking well-deserved pride in her accomplishments.

"One of the best compliments I received was at indoor championships this year," she says, reminiscing, "when the OWU coach hunkered down beside me at kinda growled 'Are you graduating yet?'"

Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for us and many others, the answer is yes.

High hurdles: Four years of work paid off for Amie Ely. (photo by Wes Steele)