Auburn’s Dietrich finds her calling
AUBURN, Ala. (BVM) — The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world as we know it. People were forced to stay at home, many local businesses shut down and uncertainty about the world began to grow. Many of the activities people used as a get-away were no longer available. For Jen Dietrich, that get-away was running track.
To describe it as a hobby for Dietrich would be wrong. Dietrich is a senior at Auburn University, running the 400-meter and 800-meter events for Auburn’s track and field team. Track has helped her get her education while also providing some much needed consistency in her life the past four years.
The Auburn track team, along with almost every other collegiate sports team in America, had it’s spring season cut short once the virus began to spread in America. It may have felt like at one point sports may never return, but with collegiate and professional sports resuming play, athletes across the country are preparing for their new seasons.
“It sucks that the season was cut short, but this upcoming season we have the same end goals,” Dietrich said. “It’s all about the SEC championship meet!”
Dietrich’s collegiate track career did not start at Auburn. Dietrich spent her freshman year of college at Bucknell University; a small university located in Lewisburg, Pa. While it was cool for Dietrich to be able to compete right away as a freshman, the school wasn’t what she was looking for in her college experience.
“It was nice to be able to compete right away. We even won the Patriot league championship that year,” Dietrich said. “I thought the school was what I wanted, but everything was a little too familiar to my high school experience.”
Dietrich went to a small catholic private school just outside of Philadelphia. While in high school, Dietrich was a stand-out on the soccer team.
“My original goal was to play soccer in college,” Dietrich said. “I only started running track to stay in shape for soccer.”
Joining the track team was an excellent decision for the senior, as her high school track coach would change her view on her athletic career. Her coach ran in college at Penn State University and told Dietrich she could run at a division one school if she wanted.
“Obviously I love playing soccer,” Dietrich said. “But she (high school track coach) could tell that’s not what I wanted to do.”
After thinking about it and training with her coach, Dietrich changed her mind about her college plans; unfortunately not everyone in her family was too thrilled.
“My dad said ‘why don’t you think about both,’” Dietrich said. “I don’t think he was ready for me to give it up yet.”
While Dietrich eventually got the chance to live out her dream of running track at the collegiate level, she didn’t know what she should pursue academically.
“When I got to Bucknell originally, I didn’t have a major,” Dietrich said. “It wasn’t until the end of my first semester that I had an idea of what I wanted to do.”
Dietrich was enrolled in a creative writing class her freshman year of college. Dietrich claimed she was a terrible writer in high school and was dreading the curriculum for that class. The class would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
“On all the assignments we had in that class, I kept writing about sports,” Dietrich said. “My professor told me I need to be in a sports writing class.”
Dietrich took her professor’s advice and tried to sign up for a sports writing class, only to find out Bucknell did not have a sports journalism major. To become a sports writer, Dietrich would have to transfer schools.
“Over spring break me and my mom took a road trip to all the different schools I was interested in,” Dietrich said. “It sucks because we had a track meet that week and I couldn’t tell my teammates where I was going because I hadn’t told anyone at the school I wanted to transfer.”
When looking at schools to transfer too, Dietrich looked into schools with sports journalism programs and listened to what students and faculty said about the program. After learning more about sports journalism programs at different schools around the country, Dietrich decided to transfer to Auburn where she would be able to live out both her dreams.
“I’ve loved everything about Auburn,” Dietrich said. “The academics, the on-campus activities, running track; it’s all been great.”
Dietrich is on track to graduate in the spring and is currently doing an internship with Auburn athletics communications. Dietrich’s goal after college is to move to a large city and get a job in sports media.
“Athletes are always reminded that sports aren’t forever,” Dietrich said. “But if I can find a way to be a sideline announcer or write the feature stories, that’s how I can make sports forever.”
