Senior distance runner Rod Koborsi admits he has a one-track mind.
Running has been an important part of his life since middle school, and as a young soccer player, he was naturally good at it. But it took a taste of defeat to make him truly serious about it.
Koborsi recalls his freshman year of high school when, at the end of the cross country season, he simply stopped training. The next fall, peers whom he had easily beaten the year before suddenly were keeping up, even beating him.
“I realized that I didn’t like losing,” Koborsi said. That’s when he decided to quit playing soccer and began training with Al Lawrence, a bronze medal-winning Olympian, in Koborsi’s hometown of Houston. Running has since been somewhat of an obsession.
At Georgetown, he has claimed the Big East Championship in the 5,000 meters, twice – both as a sophomore and as a senior. This year he doubled up, winning the 10,000-meter Big East Championship as well.
Koborsi broke Georgetown’s 15-year-old 10,000-meter record in March at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. His time of 28:35.86 shattered the 28:49.91 record previously held by John Trautmann (CAS ’90), who went on to run the 5,000 meters at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Koborsi’s current personal bests are 4:03.5 in the mile, 7:55 in the 3,000 meters and 13:49 in the 5,000 meters. At the cross country NCAA championships last fall, he finished 10th, which places him among the highest finishers in Hoya history.
In a moment he describes as one of the highlights of his Georgetown career, he finished second in the Big East cross country championships as a junior, leading the Hoyas to the league title – a feat he attributes primarily to his team.
“Individually I’ve had lots of accomplishments, but they don’t compare at all to what we did together as a team,” he said. “Whenever you have 30 guys all working toward one goal and you achieve that goal, it’s a great feeling.”
Nor is success in running a new phenomenon for Koborsi. As a freshman, he won the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Junior National Track and Field Championships and was the top American finisher at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland.
Koborsi is acutely aware of the progress he has made over the past four years, both athletically and personally. He recalls his freshman year being shaken up by “little things.” That has since changed.
“When training doesn’t go well, I keep my head up,” he said. “While things might not be going good, I have realized I can still achieve the things I want.”
It’s a trait that Assistant Coach Pat Henner has noticed. “Rod’s gotten to the point now where he can run not such a great race and still have a great time,” he said. Henner said that Koborsi’s running is constantly evolving. Koborsi constantly sees faults and corrects them.
That feeling of being in control is something Koborsi loves about distance running. Unlike other sports, he says that distance running is not entirely dependent on talent. While he admits talent does play a role, he knows that success is more a function of training and the effort invested. “You can win races but if your head is out of it, then it will cost you,” Koborsi said. “You’ve got to stay focused during such a long race. If not, you’re not going to get what you want.” It is a skill that translates to academics, he says.
Koborsi describes himself as a competitor by nature. “I train to compete. I’m not a jogger; I don’t just run because it makes me happy,” he said. “If you don’t want to beat the guy in front of you, then I don’t really see the point.”
Yet at the same time he values most what he has achieved with his team. And while the two impulses toward individual and team accomplishment are seemingly contradictory, they explain his plans for the future.
Although Koborsi will graduate from the MSB tomorrow with a degree in finance, he is not done with Hoya Track and Field. This fall, he will begin classes for a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies at the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, giving himself a final year of NCAA track and field eligibility. While he will not be eligible for cross country, he intends to keep training with the team.
“In cross country, if your fifth guy ends up running bad, you’re not going to do as well. That’s why I want to stay another year,” Koborsi said. “We have as much potential as any other team in the country. We just have to live up to it, and I want to be there when that happens.”
Beyond that he is less certain. He admits that thought of going pro, like his close friend and former teammate Jesse O’Connell (COL ’04), have crossed his mind, but he also insists that he is not ready to make a final decision yet. Professional runners, unlike other professional athletes, are not welcomed by stadiums full of screaming fans and huge signing bonuses. “You’ve really got to want it,” Koborsi said.
As it is, Koborsi runs 80 to 90 miles per week divided between two daily practices. And he looks back on the practices as some of his favorite memories. “In the future you might remember the time you won Big East, but you’re also going to remember your teammates and those 15-mile runs together, because without them you’re not going to win much,” he said.
That sense of camaraderie is noticed by his teammates. “[Rod] shows up every day ready to give 110 percent, and not just when it comes to his own training, but also in regards to his responsibilities to his team and his teammates,” O’Connell said. “I’ve seen him race at NCAA meets, Big East meets and USA national meets, and always when the pressure is the hardest and the chips are down, he runs his best and achieves great things.”
Koborsi claims his strategy is simple. “Just keep moving forward and know you’ve got to race hard at the end.”
Both on the track and off.
