Leaps and Bounds
4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
April 1, 2002
It can be difficult for student-athletes to find the right balance between school and athletics, but not so in the case of track star Nick Somerville.
As a freshman last year, Somerville managed to not only become the Mid-American Conference long jump champion while breaking Miami's school record with a mark of 24-9 ? but he also found the time to maintain a 3.4 grade point average.
During track season, Somerville spends his days studying and practicing, pausing, it seems, only to eat and sleep.
When it's the day of a track meet, he brings his books with him to study.
"He's very responsible," head coach Warren Mandrell said. "He's exactly what you want with an athlete and a student. He had his homework with him at a meet earlier this year (UC Irvine Spring Break Invitational)."
Somerville, a graduate of Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis and a finance major, said that while it's difficult to balance the two, he doesn't really feel the pressure of being both a good student and athlete.
"It's not easy," he said. "Anyone who says athletes have it easy, I want them to walk a day in my shoes. I'm used to it though. I've been an athlete since I could walk. It comes naturally now.
"I do whatever I can to get that extra time to study. Being an athlete means you need great time-management skills."
When deciding where to attend college, Somerville narrowed it down to Miami and the University of Kentucky, but choose Miami, citing the campus and the business school as his the deciding factors.
"I liked Miami the best," he said. "It's everything you'd think a typical college is that you see on television as a young child."
Somerville's original plans were to attend Miami just as a student, but a phone call asking if he'd be interested in joining the track team jumpstarted his collegiate athletic career.
The beginning of college was also when Somerville took up the triple jump, an event not offered at the high school level in Indiana.
"He's a double-event threat," Mandrell said. "Eventually he'll be a very good triple jumper also."
Somerville said he thinks the triple jump could replace the long jump as his best event.
"One day I'll be a better triple jumper than a long jumper," he said. "Every meet I'm getting better and better. I'm getting competitive in it like the long jump."
Somerville noted that a strong and supportive coaching staff was instrumental not only in preparing him for the new event but also in improving his status as a long jumper.
"They helped with the way I approached the long jump and helped me mentally with different aspects," Somerville said.
"The jumping was there, I just needed the right mindset to go out and perform every day."
The extra work paid off in spades, earning Somerville not only the honor of being a MAC champion as a freshman but also a school record.
"It really didn't set in until two days after the meet," Somerville said. "I wanted to get a good place in the MAC. I wasn't expected to win. I just got a good jump and it happened.
"The school record was also a good feeling. I want to go out and further that record every time I jump."
Besides defending his MAC title, Somerville has his eyes set firmly on qualifying for the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La.
The automatic qualifying mark for the long jump is 25-9, a magic number both he and Coach Mandrell believe he can hit.
"His goal is to jump into the 25-foot range and qualify for the NCAA meet," Mandrell said. "I think he's capable of that before he's done here."
In his quest to qualify for nationals, Somerville puts himself through rigorous daily training that sometimes leaves him sore, but it's a pain he feels is more than worth it.
"It's a good pain," he said. "You know the saying, No pain, no gain."
Mandrell praised Somerville's work ethic.
"He's had a tremendous career here so far," he said. "He's made huge improvements. He's very dedicated and does all the things he needs to do to be very good.
"He's a great guy and he's fun to be with and be around."
After graduation, Somerville has several routes in mind. One leads to law school, while another could run through Wall Street. Sports management is also a profession Somerville has thought about.
"Sports have always been a passion of mine," he said. "Anyway I could stay in sports, I'll do that."
Even though he's enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in just a short time at Miami, Somerville doesn't like to brag about it.
"If you see me walking around, you wouldn't know I was a MAC champion," he said. "I don't like to talk about it and jinx myself. I keep my mouth shut."
One thing Somerville does like to talk about is how large a role his parents have played in defining who he is and how much they have supported him in his endeavors.
"The meets in Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus, they try to make it to all the ones around here," he said. "They're a big help. I think I perform better when my parents are around.
"Everything I am and do, I owe it all to them."
Story by Josh Chapin
