Emilie Meyer glided past the charred remains of Jethro’s on Forest Avenue. Her feet chopped the concrete sidewalk at a controlled runner’s rhythm. Her 5-foot 9-inch frame gives her a longer stride than most competitors. I tried my best to keep up.
“Seven miles is a light run,” Meyer said. “And I feel pretty good today.”
She asked if I wanted to run 10 miles; I tapped out at about four. We ran a loop around campus and chatted the entire time. I would ask a question as succinctly as possible, gasping for air whenever I could. She would respond with a minute-long answer, just enough time for me to catch my breath. About a mile in, I couldn’t hear her over my own heavy breathing.
This shouldn’t surprise anybody. I’m just an average runner who tried to keep pace with Meyer, who’s been running her whole life. And she’s pretty good at it.
How good? This winter, as a senior track and field athlete at Drake, Meyer broke the school’s women’s indoor mile record with a time of 4:42.83, over three seconds faster than the previous record. At a different meet this winter, she broke the school’s women’s indoor 800-meter race record, one she actually set last year. And in her first race of the 2025 outdoor season this spring, she broke the women’s 1500-meter race record.
“It feels good to know that I left my mark on Drake and helped improve the program the best I could,” Meyer said. “I was joking with my coaches: I just don’t want you guys to forget me, so you have to look at my name.”
Meyer was born to run. In kindergarten, she lapped her classmates while running the school mile. As a result, Meyer’s gym teacher asked her to compete in a regional track meet a few years later. She competed as a third grader and finished in second place — bested only by an eighth grader — and her parents took notice.
“God had given her a gift of running, and she could use it as she chose,” her mom, Judy Meyer, said.
Meyer hasn’t stopped using her gift. She competed throughout high school and decided to run collegiately because four years wasn’t enough. This decision came after a period early in high school when she was fainting in the middle of runs. Her mom suggested she stop running; Meyer knew that wasn’t an option. She couldn’t stand just watching from the sidelines.
“That was when I was like: ‘I’m not ever doing this again,’” Meyer said. “It was so hard for me to just watch and not compete.”
For Meyer, it’s not only about running; it’s also about competing. When she hits the track, she intends to achieve her goals. This winter, those goals were to break the school mile record and reach the podium for the 800-meter race. She accomplished both. To continue reaching new goals, Meyer trains six days a week: one day for speed training, three days for weight training and two days for long runs. And she never skips a workout.
Her teammate and college roommate of three years, Meghan Coulter, sometimes tries to get her to break her routine. It never works.
“There’ve been days and weekends where I’ve begged her to skip a run so we could go do something and she refuses,” Coulter said. “That girl is so dedicated to the sport…so to see it really paying off her senior year has been super special.”
As Coulter alluded, Meyer wasn’t always breaking school records. She was always fast — in high school, she placed fourth at the state competition twice, and, early on in college, she notched multiple top-three finishes in meets — but this year she’s hit another level of success.
How did she unlock this extra level?
Training her body has helped, but so has training her mind. Her parents said one of Meyer’s greatest challenges has been building confidence. Specifically, she’ll go into races with the demeanor that she doesn’t belong when she’s actually one of the fastest runners.
This year, that demeanor has changed. At a race in Fayetteville, Arkansas, before Meyer broke Drake’s mile record, a coach said she was getting too overwhelmed before races. Her coach offered a solution: let God take over.
Meyer grew up Catholic and prays with her parents before every race, but this year, the phrase “let go and let God” has become her mantra. Now, before a race, Meyer consistently reminds herself to trust in her God-given abilities and the hard work she’s already put in.
So far, it’s working out. But the book isn’t quite closed on her college running career. She has an outdoor season to wrap up, and one goal remains the same: to improve each week.
From my observations, Meyer is doing just that. She even believes she can improve her record mile time. While we ran by Old Main along University Avenue, Meyer joked that after hitting the 4:42.83 mile time, she was disappointed because a sub-4:40 finish was in reach. Even after breaking school records, Meyer doesn’t feel she’s reached a limit on how fast she can run. The question is: Who can keep up?
