Courtesy of Ben Dickie, UVM Athletic Communications

Coming out of high, school Carmen Lagala wanted to continue her athletic career at the next level but received little interest from schools. She had only one Division I offer to go with a handful of Division III colleges looking to give her a shot. It was then that she decided to a take a year off from both school and running to regroup. A native of Montpelier, Vt., Lagala ended up as a volunteer working in Costa Rica before falling into the lap of the University of Vermont a year later.

Now at the end of her junior season, Lagala continues to prepare for her second straight trip to the NCAA Track and Field East Regional that will take place on May 25-26 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. The local athlete who was once overlooked has made a name for herself not only in her home state, but also on the east coast. Having won three America East and New England Championships, as well as an ECAC Championship, Lagala displays the true meaning of a student-athlete as the English major also carries a 3.52 grade point average.

Wanting to compete at the D-I level but receiving only interest from America East-member Albany, Lagala needed to decide what her next move would be after graduating from Montpelier High School. Having already traveled to such places as Puerto Rico for a Spanish class and England for a soccer camp in high school, Lagala's next stop would be Costa Rica.

"I did some research, found a volunteer program I liked and chose Costa Rica because I wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country and I had never been to Central America," said Lagala. "I did about eight weeks of community development, which was spending time in a home for abused, neglected, or orphaned children. This involved a lot of playing with the children. The whole experience was extremely rewarding."

"I then spent four weeks total at two different conservation projects with other groups of volunteers. One at the base of a volcano where we repaired pathways through the jungle, and one on a beach where we did work with turtles trying to preserve their eggs and better their chances of survival."

Her time away from home was just what she needed to recharge her batteries.

"I spent a couple of weeks on my own after that. I think the whole experience was a really good choice for me and the time away from school and running made me more excited to start them back up again."

By taking a year off after graduating from high school, the offers that Lagala had once received to run at the next level suddenly disappeared.
  

"Taking a year off after high school actually voided any offers from schools, but I needed time off to decide if I wanted to continue to compete in track," said Lagala. "So basically I came to UVM as a walk-on. I talked to the coaches and started out with the sprint program before moving to mid-distance."

Even after not competing for a year, University of Vermont track and field assistant coach Bonnie Belfield saw early on what the future might hold.

"Carmen's potential was no surprise after about two track workouts," said Belfield. "The only question before every season since has been, ?I wonder how much faster she will get based off of faster workouts and more mileage?'"

Lagala broke out during her sophomore year. She was nearly unbeatable going 15-1 at any distance from 400 to 1,000 meters during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. She took home America East titles in the 800m during both the indoor and outdoor seasons while also winning New England titles in the 800m (outdoor) and 500m (indoor). Lagala was honored with the Underclass Athletic Achievement Award for 2006 by the UVM Athletic Department given to an underclass student-athlete for the best individual athletic performance during that year. She became the first woman to sweep the 800m at the America East Championships (both indoors and outdoors) since 1991.

Her times in the 800m qualified her for the NCAA East Regional Outdoor Track and Field Championship that year where she finished 16th overall in the preliminary heats (2:10.32).
"I was extremely disappointed in my performance last year because I expected to run a lot faster," said Lagala. "I opened the season running the same time that I finished it in. Most races I led during the season but that race I let some one else lead, running it completely different than I did the rest of the year. It's such a short race that I didn't have time to make up ground."

The school record holder in five events, Lagala has not lost a step this year. Over a stretch of three straight weekends this spring she took first place at the America East Championships (800m), New England Championships (500m), and ECAC/IC41 Championships (800m).

"Her progress freshman and sophomore year was phenomenal, she is a great listener and trusts her training," said Belfield. "This past year I believe she did feel the outside pressure as people just expected her to win after the past two years, but Carmen handled it really well. I'm honored to be able to coach both her good days and not so good days. Carmen puts it on the line every time the gun goes off and that's a true champion."

Lagala is just as successful in the classroom as she is competing as she has been named to the America East Track & Field All-Academic Team (indoor and outdoor) for the last four straight semesters. As well as majoring in English she also minors in film and television studies, two fields that she believes intertwine.

"I love writing and I've always loved studying films," said Lagala. "English and film are very closely related, they both require the same types of analyzing and writing. In the classroom I have a genuine interest in what I'm learning and improving in areas such as writing while athletically it is wanting to go faster, basically the need to find out what my limits are."

"Carmen is an exceptional student as an English major and has always done a great job in leaving her academics at the door when she steps into practice or a race," said Belfield. "Our athletes are students first and athletes second. If their studies are under control, they can focus on the training and racing. Like the student-athletes on our teams, Carmen is self driven to excel in the classroom."

Vermont has won back-to-back America East Academic Cups (2005, 2006) after posting a conference-high 3.14 GPA during the 2005-06 season. The Catamounts became the first institution in conference history to win the award three times, winning the inaugural academic cup in 1996. The 3.14 GPA ties the highest grade-point average in the 11-year history of the award, which the Catamounts set last season. The UVM women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams led the Vermont contingent with 28 members each making the academic honor roll last year.

Lagala has made huge strides over the last three years after barely being recruited and coming from a high school that no longer has a track program. She will wrap up her junior season and look to improve on her performance from last year this weekend at the NCAA's in the 800m. As for her senior season both Lagala and Belfield have high expectations.

"Her maturity level has always been beyond her actual years," said Belfield. "Carmen's growth as an athlete the past three years has centered around her accepting the level of her training and understanding at what level she should be racing."

"I'd like to see big improvements, of course, but any improvement at all will leave me happy," said Lagala. "I didn't improve many of my marks this season and that was pretty disappointing. But I had some good things happen and I just need to stay positive and not put too much pressure on myself next year. I started to learn this year that it's not the end of the world if things don't go according to the plan, that I can still enjoy running even when I'm not posting the times I want to."

While she stayed close to home to attend college, Lagala's love for travel and helping others will most likely see her spanning the globe once again once her time is up at Vermont.

"I'm starting to apply for the Peace Corps right now, so that is my post-graduate plan so far. I'm also interested in the Teach for America program and I'd like to try teaching English in a foreign country for a while as well."