By: Jacob Tansen, tansenja@mnstate.edu
A long, successful run is nearing its end.
Josh Young, 23, is a senior cross-country runner at MSUM. He ran track during his first three years in college, but decided to take his senior season off.
Young, who is a Moorhead native, took a while in deciding where he wanted to go to college, but eventually decided that MSUM was the right school for him.
“The team was on the rise, the cross-country team was starting to become pretty good,” Young said. “It looked like they had potential.”
Additionally, Young cited the business school and cost of tuition were deciding factors in his choice to attend MSUM.
Young has taken care of business as a runner at MSUM. He’s earned a total of three All-American Honors, along with five All-NSIC honors and has been named to the NSIC All-Academic team six times. He never imagined he would be this successful, but he is humbled to have earned these honors, especially the All-American Honors.
“It’s kind of an awesome accomplishment to know that all my hard work has paid off,” Young said. “Getting an All-American status and reaching the highest level of competition at D2 is an awesome reward to see where all your hard work has landed you.”
When Young first came to MSUM, he was planning to focus more on track and field. Young thought he was going to be an 800-meter specialist, but he was more successful in cross-country than he was in track.
Cross-country and track and field Coach Ryan Milner has enjoyed seeing what Young has developed into, not only as a runner, but also as an individual.
“All around good guy, good student, hard worker. Multi-time All-American, phenomenal cross-country runner, and he’s consistently gotten better every single season,” Milner said.
Young has done a lot as a runner, but when asked about his best memory from MSUM, there’s one that stands out for him.
“When we made it to nationals my redshirt freshman year of cross country, that was probably my best memory,” Young said. “That was the first time I ever qualified for a national meet, and we qualified with the team, which was super exciting.”
Young said that the number one goal for the season is for the team to place in the top three in the region to qualify for nationals.
The Dragons just finished their regular season meets and will travel to the NSIC Championships Saturday, Nov. 3, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Young hopes that he and his team have a successful finish to the season as he wraps up his career.