FEATURE: Jozwiak looks forward to ‘biggest race’ of his life

By Sandy Gholston

HOUSTON – Matt Jozwiak, no stranger to hard work, swelled with pride after he earned his opportunity to compete in this week’s 2009 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Texas.

Excelling as a successful student-athlete takes strong commitment that includes balancing dual roles as a student and as an athlete. For the Bulldogs who are members of the indoor track and field team, an added challenge exists. Since Ferris does not have a true on-campus indoor facility for track and field, the dedication level it takes to be a success during indoor season is an added hurdle for Ferris student-athletes to clear. That hurdle was cleared by Jozwiak (and women’s team members Tina Muir and Mikinzie Stuart). The Berkley native is competing at nationals in the 800-meter run thanks to a qualifying run he clocked of 1:52.11 (sixth-best in the field).

“This indoor season has basically been a wish brought to reality,” said Jozwiak, who runs in the second of two heats on Friday (6:45 p.m.). The top three finishers from each section and the next three fastest times advance to Saturday’s final. “It’s my first national championships and also my largest steppingstone yet looking toward the future.”

Looking forward to testing against the best

Having an opportunity to test his abilities against the best of his peers – student-athletes competing at the highest level in Division II – has Jozwiak fired up.

“It’s very exciting to finally be able to showcase my abilities against a solid field of runners that can do exactly what I can, if not better,” he said. “I’ve already raced against a few of the guys I’ll be up against, but that only gives me a slight advantage. I know how to race against them and can look ahead to the other competitors.”

The mental game can be important for student-athletes as they begin to compete at the highest levels of athletic competition. At a time when most students were in preparation for mid-term exams, Jozwiak had to worry about that while also keeping his head on straight continuing competition and training for nationals.

It’s all about keeping focus in the face of challenges

“These past couple weeks have been very stressful with thoughts running through my head about what I am going to be up against,” Jozwiak said. “When I prepare for a race, I just like to relax and clear my mind. I don’t like to think about the race too much, so I don’t get all worked up about it. Also, with training, we’ve finally been able to taper off these past weeks by dropping our mileage and having long recovery in our track workouts. (That has been) very nice for recovering our tired legs from the season and going into the championship completely fresh.”

All eyes will be on Jozwiak and his competitors

He knows a lot of eyes will be on him and many of his competitors as the start time nears. Jozwiak wants to make every effort to keep more focused on the competition and less focused on the hype and magnitude of the atmosphere associated with competing at the national championships level in any sport.

“I never usually get very nervous days before the race because I like to relax as I said before,” he said. “But, this is the biggest race of my life so far, and there is no doubt that the day of the race I will be shaking with nerves waiting for the gun to go off. I have always run my best races while I have been the most nervous.”

Jozwiak hopes that positive trend continues.

For more on Ferris State University’s track and field athletes competing in the national championships, visit:
http://www.ferris.edu/sports/track/0809news/indoornationals09.htm

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com