August 14, 2017 at 12:34 p.m.

Former LUHS star FitzPatrick to finish college career at Minnesota

Former LUHS star FitzPatrick to finish college career at Minnesota
Former LUHS star FitzPatrick to finish college career at Minnesota

By Nick Sabato-

Despite earning a Bachelor's degree in English at Yale this spring, one of the best runners to set foot on a track at Lakeland Union High School is not quite finished with her collegiate running career.

Former two-time 1600 meter state champion Delaney FitzPatrick is set to finish her collegiate track and field career at the University of Minnesota this year.

An injury held her out of action during her freshman season at Yale, enabling FitzPatrick to compete in one more season as a graduate transfer.

At the time of her first injury, FitzPatrick was intrigued by the idea of being able to run for a fifth year, but as her injuries mounted and academic rigors took a toll, the interest faded until this past year.

"My dad suggested running a fifth year to me and I hadn't really thought about going to grad school since," FitzPatrick said. "It seemed like I was in the right place in my life to make that decision and take that path instead."

FitzPatrick has developed fragile shins, which has led to stress fractures and reactions throughout her four years at Yale.

Her injuries have hampered more than just running during her college career, but things have taken a turn for the better.

"It's definitely taken a toll on my running just mentally," FitzPatrick said. "Clearly mental stability is a really large part of running itself. I was stressed academically, too. Things weren't going very well and my running wasn't going well so it's really taken me the full four years to get to this place. I've finally kind of come to terms with the fact that I will have to do a lot of cross-training. My workouts will look a lot different than the other girls, but that doesn't mean I won't be able to compete to the same level."

Her arrival at Minnesota has also come full-circle.

The Golden Gophers recruited FitzPatrick coming out of Lakeland, where she still holds the school records in the 800 and 1,600 meters.

FitzPatrick considered Minnesota strongly before choosing Yale. In the end, she was able to choose both schools.

"I do have some ties to the coaching staff there if Yale didn't work out so they were always there," FitzPatrick. "I really liked the campus and the girls on the team. That was really the only school I was interested in for grad school. Honestly, I kind of put all my eggs in one basket."

FitzPatrick's father and coach at Lakeland, Kevin, has a connection at Minnesota - including through former Lakeland star Brooke Robertson, who ran there - and speaks to the coach. When he mentioned Delaney had an interest in running a fifth season, the coaching staff reciprocated.

Despite her injury history, FitzPatrick still believes she has the ability to compete in the Big Ten and still has some personal goals she wants to achieve.

"I'm not going to be the star of the team or anything," FitzPatrick said. "But my goal throughout college has been to break 2:10 (in the 800) and I ran 2:11 as a senior in high school. I was hoping then I could break 2:10 and ever since then that's been the one big goal that has always just stuck up there. I came really close this year. I was at 2:12 this year during indoor and I was really hoping I could break it outdoor, but I got injured. I think if I hadn't gotten injured I would have gotten it, but it's just an elusive time. If I broke 2:10 next year and that's all I did, that would be fine with me."

FitzPatrick was recruited for her 1,600 meter time but eventually became an 800 specialist at Yale.

At Minnesota, she may have the opportunity to run some shorter events such as the 400.

"I always enjoy the shorter events anyway," FitzPatrick said. "I think at Minnesota, they're going to focus me on even shorter events. I'll run a lot of 800s, but they'll put me in more 400s and 600s than I ran at Yale."

FitzPatrick only has cross country and outdoor track eligibility left, meaning she won't run indoor track as part of the Minnesota team.

Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.

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