No wasted minutes for Byers

There is the Ella Byers who gets up really early and puts in the miles on cold and dark Vermillion mornings. She enjoys the quiet time and the chance it gives her to sort through her thoughts without the competing distractions that invariably begin appearing after the sun comes up.

And then there is the Ella Byers who goes to her workouts with her University of South Dakota teammates and gets them feeling good about what they’re doing.

“She brings the whole team up,” said Nolan Fife, South Dakota’s cross country coach. “She’s a blast to be around and she gives our team an energy that is contagious – she’s a huge influence on her teammates. You need people like Ella on your team if you’re going to be successful.”

Byers was a two-time South Dakota high school cross country champion at Chamberlain High School who runs for the Coyotes’ cross country team, and indoor and outdoor track teams. She is a senior secondary education major who is also student teaching this semester.

Every week this means she has to combine being a competitive Division I distance runner with a full-time job. Hence the early mornings on the road in the dark.

While the Coyotes prepare for the Summit League cross country meet (held Saturday in Brookings), Byers will be in full multi-task mode. That is, she’ll be working to maintain a competitive edge as a runner while also teaching language arts to sixth graders.

“It’s been a little different this year with the student teaching,” said Byers, who has also run the second-fastest mile in USD history. “I’m a competitor by nature so I’ve always loved the competitive aspect of running, but this year because I’m student teaching, running has become my ‘alone’ time. It’s become a therapy for me.”

It’s not a schedule that would work for everyone. Running to stay in shape is not the same as summoning the necessary effort needed to prepare for a series of Division I competitions. There are differences, too, between being a college intern for an accounting firm and teaching English to a class of sixth graders for the first time.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Byers said. “It has definitely been a learning experience. I think I’ve evolved a lot as an individual in the last few months more than I have the last few years.”

She knew the fall semester was going to present challenges. In many ways college distance runners either get comfortable with the grind of staying competitive or find better ways to spend their time. Adding a demanding job to her day was going to be new territory, however.

Byers ran across a quote this summer that she has taken to heart: “Life is easy if you live it the hard way.”

“So I live life the hard way,” she said. “I’m in bed by 9:30 p.m., I plan my meal prep to save time – I try to be prepared for whatever is next at all times. I think that has taught me a lot and I’m really glad I decided to do both. It has really helped me grow as an individual.”

She has her days. Being with sixth graders has taught her a lot about classroom management. It is a learning process that continues. When she tells people she is going to be a teacher, the standard reaction is, “Why?” But for every discouraging moment there are a few more where it all makes sense.

“I get some days where I realize why I went into teaching,” Byers said. “The women I work with and teach with at the middle school are very professional. They’re very involved in the community, they’re very adaptable – they can switch directions on a dime – they’re really people I want to be like.”

Byers had several teachers in her life who led her to decide on education as a career. Among them were her cross country coach in high school, her piano teacher and her father, who also teaches middle-school language arts.

“Now that I’m in the classroom, I’m like ‘Dad, now I know why you talk like this,’” Byers said. “When I was a kid he was always in teacher mode. I understand so much more about him now.”

She will be in “running mode” this week for the Coyotes, ranked 11th in the Midwest entering the Summit meet, on Oct. 28.  She moves toward that event backed by the best summer of training she has had at USD, according to her coach.

“She has gotten to the point in her career where she is not wasting a day,” Fife said. “She is taking advantage of every opportunity to run and to practice and compete and she really wants to see what she can do in this sport. As coaches we try to get everything we can out of our student athletes, but it’s something they have to want to do. And that’s what Ella’s about. She has done a great job of navigating all her challenges.”

Byers came back for a fifth season because she likes to run, but also because she likes to compete. After graduating there is always going to be that next 10k on the calendar if you want to stay serious about running. Running for yourself is not quite the same, though, as running for the Coyotes. That’s why she is not wasting a day.

“The team has been a family to me – that part of this has been pretty amazing,” Byers said. “USD as a whole is what everyone says it is: a great community. Vermillion is a great town. I’ve felt like there is always someone here to pick me up if I’m having a bad day. I’ve never felt unsupported and that’s what I really needed through college. I needed that support of a family outside my own family.”