Pursuing Peak Potential: The Abby Suszek Story

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Looking at the front page of MiamiRedHawks.com each week after the latest indoor track and field meet is reminiscent of listening to LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh count off how many NBA titles they expected to win when they joined forces 15 years ago.

"Not one, not two, not three…"

That's because Abby Suszek is usually on the front page of the website, since she's literally rewriting the Miami record books nearly every time she runs a race.

How many weeks in a row has Suszek been named MAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week? Abby Suszek starting blocks

(Not one, not two, not three…)

This Tuesday brought the fourth consecutive weekly honor for the senior sprinter from Mentor, Ohio.

And why exactly does Suszek have a monopoly on the MAC awards this season?

Because she keeps setting not only personal bests, but school records.

Miami's 200-meter mark? It's hers as of three weeks ago in Indianapolis. Suszek ran a blistering 23.92, surpassing Olivia Bechtel's time of 23.95.

The 300-meter record? Suszek swiped that one in January, posting a time of 38.81 in Louisville, good enough to move past Bechtel (39.30) and former record-holder Karen Bakewell (39.07).

"When the No. 2 mark on that list is a former NCAA champion [Bakewell] and the No. 3 person…was the third-fastest collegiate at the Olympic Trials in 2021 [Bechtel], you're in good company and really hitting on elite status if you're in front of two athletes with those accolades," said Miami director of cross country/track and field Russ Peterson.

That brings us to the 400-meter record. Bechtel still holds it —for now— at 53.07. But Suszek is knocking at the door.

She has set a new personal best in the event every week this winter, improving from a 54.62 to 54.47 to 53.36 leading into last weekend's trip to Nashville for the Music City Challenge. Her time there? An oh-so-close 53.09, two hundredths shy of yet another school record.

But the season's not over. Suszek can make even more history as the RedHawks travel to nearby Wittenberg this weekend (Feb. 22) and then head to the MAC Indoor Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich. (Feb. 28-March 1), to say nothing of her opportunity to chase down Bechtel's outdoor records later this spring.

So how many different records might Suszek graduate with?

(Not one, not two, not three…?)

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As Suszek entered her senior year at Miami, she didn't really know what to expect. Her thoughts weren't on school records or even personal bests. She just hoped to finally feel like she was maximizing her potential on the track.

Abby Suszek MAC

"During high school and my first couple years here, I struggled with a lot of sports performance anxiety and I feel like it really put a damper on any goal that I had," Suszek explained. "I was just so overwhelmed by competing and the meets that I didn't have that many goals.

"I would have a little goal in my head of the time I wanted to run, but I never came close to it until quite literally this year, because I thought, 'This is my last year running! I've got to pull it together!'", she laughed.

Up until 2025, a race day for Suszek often meant dealing with nausea, not being able to eat, feeling like she was going to pass out before the race, and promptly getting sick after it ended. "I'm in a giant calorie deficit about to run the 400, and then since I get so nervous, after I run it's like a release of all those incredible nerves and I would just throw up. At that point, I'm too weak to do anything the rest of the day," she recalled.

"I would still run, but never well. I never tapped my full potential: I wasn't fueling my body properly. I wasn't fueling my mind properly. It was just a whole mix of bad factors."

With her collegiate eligibility rapidly drawing to a close, Suszek dedicated herself this season to finishing her career with no regrets. Through growing her faith, re-working her diet, adjusting her nighttime routine, reducing stress, and making difficult choices about how she spent her free time to maximize her chances of staying healthy, she has progressively built her confidence and minimized her race-day anxiety.

"It's just little decisions that have affected my season a LOT in the grand scheme of things, changing little habits of my day," Suszek said.

For example…

"I'm not eating every ice cream every single night," she smiled. "That was a huge struggle for me. I used to work at an ice cream shop. I love ice cream, and I would eat it almost every single day!"

But Suszek's priority now is on the home stretch of her collegiate career and utilizing every bit of her ability and talent as she races to the finish line (both literally and figuratively), no matter the sacrifices that are required.

"I think my biggest fear going into this season was ending it still thinking that I had more left: Knowing that I didn't do my best, but not having another opportunity, so I would never know what my full potential was," said Suszek.

"I think I've ended pretty much every season thinking, 'I could have run faster.' I don't want to end this season with that thought, because there's not a second chance." Abby Suszek relay

Suszek also credited the encouragement from her teammates and learning to trust her coaches' training as two key pieces of her standout senior season. "When [the Miami runners in my event group] are warming up, sitting together and waiting together at the start line, we're all in the same boat," Suszek said. "We're all nervous. It's not just me. Even though I might have been a little more extreme, they're still nervous too!

"I think it really helped me to specifically see the other women in my life around my age who are all thinking similar things. We're all nervous, but we all made it here."

In terms of practice, Peterson pointed out that his coaching approach is to "spend more time running fast in shorter distances than we do equaling the distance of the race that they're running." That can take time for some of the younger RedHawks to get used to when they first join the program. For instance, as a 400-meter specialist, Suszek's workouts would usually max out at half that distance or even less.

"I tell our athletes all the time, the only thing that combats anxiety is confidence," said Peterson. "And how do we gain confidence? Understanding why we train the way we do…and there's been a lot of value to it."

"In the past, I came in nervous partially due to thinking I wasn't ready," Suszek agreed. "This year, I allowed myself to trust the training techniques and came in more confident."

It's obviously paid off.

"Every week has been such a blessing," said Suszek. "Every week, I've been surprised when I look at the clock.

"It's just the most exciting feeling of, 'What else can I do?'"

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Look at a photo of Suszek and Peterson from the day the 200-meter record fell, and you'll quickly notice the facial expressions.

Abby Suszek and Russ Peterson

The runner is smiling; the coach is not.

"I said, 'We can take a picture, but I'm not going to smile though,'" Peterson recounted. "It was to be funny, but also to let Abby know that I'm not going to settle for that. I think she can run faster!

"I show the photo to other people, and they say, 'Oh man, she's so great!' I'm like, 'She has so much more room to improve.' She knows that, and she had a big smile on her face, big enough for both of us.

"I'm definitely happy, but I'm not ready for that to be her indoor PR, because I think she can improve that still, with two meets to go."

Suszek's performances this winter have provided something of a full-circle moment, as the sprinter edges past marks of Bechtel's from five years ago that Peterson admits he didn't think would be reached so soon. In fact, Bechtel —who Suszek asked to meet when she visited Oxford as a high school recruit— was the first person to text the RedHawks' coach after Suszek's historic performance in the 200, even though it meant she owned one less record than she did the day before.

"She's super pumped and proud to still be associated with our program, and happy that somebody else is experiencing what she experienced as an athlete," said Peterson, who has been on the RedHawks' staff for a decade and served as assistant head coach when Bechtel competed.

"Olivia is now in a unique position where she can watch and support somebody else through it. Not a, 'Hey, I hope you don't beat my record', but rather, 'I hope you continue to establish Miami as one of the better 400-meter schools in the country.'

"We never thought anybody else would be in her category. Now, here we are…

"But I definitely have to stop comparing Abby to Olivia, because she's starting to set her own standards right now."

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While Suszek hopes to accomplish even more on the track before graduating this spring with her Psychology/Strategic Communication degree, she is still able to reflect on and appreciate what's already been a transformational experience (specifically over her final year) as a RedHawk.

"I'm proudest of the growth that I've seen in my life," Suszek said. "Coming from a really tiny high school that didn't even have a track (no home meets, unless people wanted to run circles in the parking lot!) – when I look back, I feel like I don't even recognize the freshman that came into school in terms of where I am now, in a good way. Abby Suszek with baton

"Miami's pushed me to grow here, and I'm just so happy and thankful for the opportunity that I was given.

"No matter what you're going through, it's part of your story…and I wouldn't have it any other way. Even the hurt, the mental pain I was going through…it's made me who I am.

"And I wouldn't trade that for the world."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

The Miami indoor track and field team is in action this weekend, with student-athletes competing Friday, Feb. 21 at Findlay and others (including Suszek) racing Saturday, Feb. 22 at Wittenberg. The RedHawks then head to Eastern Michigan for the MAC Indoor Championships next week (Feb. 28-March 1). Check out the schedule page on MiamiRedHawks.com for links to follow the meets.

Pursuing Peak Potential: The Abby Suszek Story

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Abby Suszek

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