Krystal Roberts, a freshman from Walla Walla, is a distance runner on this year’s track team. Roberts is majoring in elementary education, and when she is not practicing or competing you can find her spending time with her family and friends, volunteering, taking photos and baking. 

In high school, Roberts played on the varsity soccer team for four years and first got into running while training for the soccer team. In addition to soccer, Roberts joined the track team as a freshman and throughout her high school career found herself running and falling in love with the longer distance track events. 

“One aspect of track that I love is the dynamics of the team. If there is one word to describe our team it would be family. Everyone works hard, pushes one another, and supports every single person on the team,” Roberts said.

At the 13th annual Sam Adams Classic Roberts qualified to compete in the Northwest Conference meet in Linfield, Oregon with a time of 40:29 in the 10 kilometer race which is 6.2 miles and 25 laps around the track. Robert’s finishing time was four minutes faster than the qualifying mark. 

Roberts said how incredible it is “when you’re on lap 17 of the 10k and you hear not only distance runners cheering you on, but throwers, jumpers and sprinters.” Roberts has also competed in the 800, 1500, and 5k this season.

Roberts is also a member of the cross country team, and said one of her favorite memories and biggest accomplishments collegiately so far has been “racing with [her] teammates at regionals in California and finding out that our team placed second and got to compete together at nationals in Illinois. ”At the regional meet, Roberts raced to a 25th place finish and at nationals she placed 208th out of 279 women. 

This Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20, Roberts and the rest of the Pirates will travel to McMinnville, Oregon to compete in the 2018 Northwest Conference championships.