{"id":35136,"date":"2011-05-11T08:05:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T12:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=35136"},"modified":"2011-08-15T16:34:28","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T20:34:28","slug":"rutt-runs-toward-national-prominence-in-the-800-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/05\/rutt-runs-toward-national-prominence-in-the-800-m\/","title":{"rendered":"Rutt Runs Toward National Prominence in the 800M"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Co-Captain<\/a>
Co-captain Mike Rutt has developed into one of the Huskies' best middle distance runners. Photos from Athletic Communications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Mike Rutt was growing up in a small Pennsylvania town near Reading, people would tell him he was destined to become a runner. He ran track in high school, but his real goal was to continue playing soccer. He earned letters in both sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, I just wanted to be a soccer player,\u201d says Rutt. But he changed his mind after a visit to UConn, and turned down a scholarship to play soccer at Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the only place I looked at seriously for track. I came on a visit here, and when I was done I said I want to go to school here,\u201d says Rutt, a senior exercise science major. \u201cI came here more for the school than the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Roy, head men\u2019s track and field coach for the Huskies, says he thought Rutt had potential, but that it might be difficult for him to make it here. \u201cI told him that,\u201d Roy says. \u201cHe believed in himself, and thought he had greater potential as a track and field athlete than as a soccer player, and he wanted to give it a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both coach and runner have been pleased by the decision. Rutt has developed into one of the Huskies\u2019 best middle distance runners, and one of the top track and field athletes in the nation, earning All-America honors and finishing a very close second in the 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championship in March.<\/p>\n

As a co-captain for the second consecutive year, Rutt is one of the leaders of a Huskies men\u2019s track and field squad that this year has won the Big East Indoor Championship and the New England Championship. The Huskies also completed a sweep of the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) Championship in cross country, outdoor track and field, and indoor track and field.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Tyrone<\/a>
Tyrone Faverey won the triple jump at the 2011 Big East Outdoor Championships. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last weekend, the Huskies won the 2011 Big East Outdoor Championships in Philadelphia, with 17 top-five marks, including two top finishes in four events. UConn won the 4×100 meters relay with Kashif Moore, Kevin Smith, Darnell Cummings, and Jesse Drinks; Tyrone Faverey won the triple jump; Aaron King, who was named the 2011 Big East Outstanding Field Performer, won the decathlon and was second in the triple jump; and Cody Unger won the javelin. Rutt had a season-best of 1:48.57 in the 800 meters, but finished second.<\/p>\n

Roy says one of the challenges of coaching track and field is building a team atmosphere among a diverse group of student-athletes who essentially compete as individuals. It requires balance among the coaches as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of creating a team environment in an individual sport,\u201d says Roy, now in his 21st year at UConn. \u201cI\u2019ve coached every event in track and field. [The coaches] are comfortable with each other and watch each other\u2019s athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy works primarily with the runners. Associate head coach Ted Gibbons is in his 18th season with the Huskies and specializes in field events. Rich Miller, who earned All-New England and Big East honors in pentathlon and pole vault events while competing as a Husky, is in his fifth year as a full-time assistant coach after a decade as a part-time coach, and works with multi-event athletes.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Aaron<\/a>
Aaron King has been named the 2011 Big East Outstanding Field Performer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roy, who has produced 31 All-Americans from UConn, says that Rutt has grown each year as a runner at UConn and has gained confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a realization born from his freshman Big East Championship and a confidence that grew from there,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen Mike talks about a national championship, he\u2019s not talking about somebody else, it\u2019s about hm. In the NCAAs last month, he finished second by the narrowest of margins, a whisker \u2013 four-hundredths of a second in an 800 meter race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutt says he thinks he can continue to improve his performance. \u201cI still consider myself somewhat new to the sport, because I wasn\u2019t so serious about in high school,\u201d he says. \u201cI was more of a soccer player, and did track too. I\u2019ve made a huge improvement, but I know there\u2019s room for much more because I\u2019ve only been doing it seriously for five, maybe six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutt, a Big East All-Academic Team selection, says that his studies in exercise science have helped not only toward his career goal in the field of physical therapy, but on the track as well.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Jesse<\/a>
Jesse Drinks, part of the 4x100 team that won first place at the Big East Outdoor Championships. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been cool to see stuff I learn in the class applied here and having it work,\u201d he says, noting that he might be able to provide insight to his teammates on the scientific benefits of their practice drills. \u201cSometimes I try to explain to guys why we\u2019re doing one work out compared to another, whether it\u2019s for lactic acid or aerobic base, sprinting speed, and why Coach Roy is having us do it. It is a science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy says it is rare to have a team captain for two years with Rutt\u2019s skills and leadership abilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo-year captains are few and far between,\u201d he says. \u201cMike\u2019s a tremendous leader. He\u2019s total commitment, toughness, and do it for the team. He\u2019s not a screamer or a yeller. He\u2019s a quiet leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutt says he\u2019ll offer advice when needed, but he mostly leads by example. \u201cI like to talk strategies with other people,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to talk back and forth, and talk to the younger guys when they come in. A lot of times they\u2019ll ask how you run this or that. It\u2019s kind of cool to teach and learn, because everyone has their own opinion on what the perfect race is. I\u2019m not a big vocal leader. If anyone needs advice, I\u2019ll give them advice. If I need to give the team a pep talk, I\u2019ll do it. I\u2019d say I lead by example more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his great success on the track, Rutt says it appears he may have the opportunity to extend his athletic career beyond UConn, but as an exercise science major, he knows there is a limit to every athlete\u2019s ability to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main goal down the road is physical therapy,\u201d he says. \u201cI love exercise science, learning about the body and what it does. I\u2019ll try to extend this, but your body can\u2019t go forever, it\u2019s a fact of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huskies head to the New England Championships this Thursday in New Haven, followed immediately by the IC4A Championship in Princeton, N.J. over the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once an aspiring soccer player, Mike Rutt is now one of the nation\u2019s best middle distance runners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-35136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 17:56:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35136"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44212,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35136\/revisions\/44212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35136"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=35136"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=35136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}