Men's Cross Country | 11/9/2015 5:21:00 PM

Sam Mack of the men's cross country team was selected as the Sizzlin' Saint award recipient, sponsored by Applebee's, for the month of October.

"In 2014 Sam was the top freshman performer on the men's cross country team," said head men's and women's cross country and indoor track coach Brian Beil. "He continued to build on his success throughout track season and put himself in a position to have a tremendous sophomore campaign.

During the summer months, where the bulk of our work is done for each cross country season, Sam held a 60+ hours per week internship as a personal trainer in order to gain experience in his desired career field. Late in the summer, however, Sam began to feel tired and run down after efforts that were previously very easy. After a number of tests they finally discovered in August (two weeks before the start of the season) that he had Type-1 Diabetes. Since this diagnosis, Sam has understandably struggled from a competitive standpoint. Each practice has been both a challenge and a learning experience. To say that the fall of 2015 has been a challenging one for Sam would be a massive understatement. Through these struggles, he has continued to be a leader on the team both in and out of practices and competitions. As he struggles to learn more about his new situation and succeed with it, he has been the model of consistency in terms of effort and attitude.

Though his times have been understandably slower than a year ago, his presence on the team has been perhaps even more uplifting than when he was performing at a higher level. Without Sam, the morale of the team, the training environment, and therefore the racing performances would all be significantly reduced. Sam has been the standard for attitude this season for the cross country program, and I do not believe there is a candidate more deserving of this award than Sam Mack."