Welcome back to “In The Huddle,” a podcast by the Washington Square News. I’m Matthew, deputy sports editor at WSN, and today I am joined by Liam Hagerty, a junior from Maryland on the cross country team.
WSN: So let’s get right into it. Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams had historic seasons. On the men’s side, the team finished fourth in the country at NCAAs — the third best national championship finish all time for the Violets and the team’s first podium finish since 2009. You also individually finished 33rd in that race. Congratulations on an incredible season. How do you feel like the NCAAs went from an individual perspective and from a team perspective?
Hagerty: I’m incredibly grateful for the season we had and the way we finished as a team. We went one point off from podium last year. We got fifth at the national meet in Terre Haute, Indiana. And coming back we really were passionate about podium and we lost two of our best guys, Ryan Tobin and Evan Sherman, some really strong runners. There was some uncertainty whether we would be able to come back to that same type of finish that we came in last year and I think throughout the season, podium was our goal — and we did that. And I think everyone is more than proud about that. And then individually, I came in wanting to be in a leadership role. I wanted to be able to be the guy that Ryan Tobin was, he was a strong senior.
Coming in All-American, as a junior too, that was pretty inspiring, but I also know that there’s more out there, and there’s more I’m aspiring to achieve.
WSN: So you transferred from Davidson College. What made Davidson your choice coming out of high school, and why did you decide to transfer to NYU?
Hagerty: Davidson was a great school. I have no, I honestly have no regrets for going there. I thought originally, this is where I can have a small, tight community and be able to really channel my energy into not only running, they had some pretty rigorous academics. But, Davidson at first was great, but the original thing was the coach who I originally, did the whole recruiting process with stepped down when I was a freshman starting out. I never had any intention of leaving Davidson.
WSN: Would you say there were any major adjustments for you coming from Davidson to NYU? What were the biggest adjustments?
Hagerty: For sure. Going from a small liberal arts school, there’s only like less than 2,000 kids to not in the middle of nowhere, but really the closest city to Davidson was Charlotte, not that far out, but going from a small liberal arts school like that to NYU, one of the largest, I think, private institutions in the country. And then on top of that, being in New York City where it’s a completely different, southern mentality, to then going all the way to the Northeast and the staple city of the United States. There was a lot, I would say the adjustment mainly was just getting used to a different environment and Davidson was a lot more personalized. Where NYU I think it’s a lot of figuring out yourself, not just as an athlete, but as a student. There’s a lot getting thrown at you — everything in your face. It’s like New York City, just in a bubble, but not so much as like at Davidson where you knew everyone coming to school. Being at NYU every day is, I would say, different. You didn’t really know what you were gonna get into, whereas Davidson, that was a school where I had my four years already mapped out just as a freshman. So definitely a lot more adjusting in the sense of, every day is different. A lot worse, a little bit worse weather, especially for the running and indoor. But I think I’ve always been a person where I, even my coach will tell you, I’ve been someone who’s very able to adapt to new environments. I think that also gets shown in my running career, whereas, going from high school to running the longest distances of 5k to then every race in cross country being an 8k. I think, looking back, compared to most runners, I have a sense of adjusting well to that.
WSN: Yeah. That’s awesome. Coming back to NYU, cross country is both deeply individual and intensely team oriented. Your own result matters, but so does how your teammates place. How do you navigate that tension between wanting to outperform everyone, including your teammates, and also rooting for the success of each of your teammates?
Hagerty: Yeah, I like that question. I can tell you with me and one of the seniors on the team, Jeffrey Chan, we would go at it a lot — always with the best intentions at heart, but sometimes it would get a little heated and that even shows up in our daily training sessions. But overall, what I think that does is just, it just goes to show how much we care about our sport and how much we care about lifting each other up.
And I would say really when it comes to the individual aspect, it’s more of, I always know internally that I have to do my job, but I’m also looking out for the freshmen on the team or guys coming back from injury, that they feel that they’re in the best position possible to bring their best effort. Because if they succeed, we succeed. And I think that’s like the biggest thing when it comes to cross country. When you come together and everyone wins, that’s how you win as a team. And and like I said, I mean we get at it, but at the end of the day we know we’re all rooting for each other and I think that’s the biggest thing that matters.
WSN: Yeah. That’s awesome. Now coming back to you personally, I know you watch a lot of sports and that you played a year of basketball in high school. What led you to choosing cross country being the sport that you really wanted to focus on?
Hagerty: This is actually, I mean it’s funny you mentioned, this is actually one of the staple stories I always tell people with why I got into running.
Originally, yeah, ever since I could basically walk, I loved basketball. I still — college basketball is more my thing. I don’t really watch the NBA, but I’ve always loved basketball. And when I first started high school, that’s all I wanted to do. I wanted to be on the varsity team. My life revolved around basketball. And I originally even picked up cross country as just conditioning to then just be ready for the winter season. My fall of my freshman year in high school, I picked up running only in a sense to just get me to a great shape for basketball season. I remember my sophomore year of our cross country season, which was the middle of spring. My coach actually, I remember, it was right after one of our workouts, and he brought me in the parking lot. And right before I was grabbing something that we needed to give our parents for the meet that they could check in with because of COVID and everything, he basically stopped me and we had a one-on-one conversation and he said, ‘Listen, I think you’d be a great runner.’
I knew what he was talking about. He’s really developed D-I athletes now, and that program is a really bought in program. And so coming from him and hearing these words was really inspiring.
But he basically told me, ‘Look, I think you can be a great runner. I think if you really just fully commit yourself to this, you could be really proud about what you do.”
And he basically told me right there he goes, ‘Listen, I think you should quit basketball. I think you should quit even trying to try to make the team. I think you should just completely buy in on this, do cross country, do indoor track instead and then do outdoor track on the distance end.’
At first, it was like a big decision I had to make. And I remember I was at dinner looking over and I was like, ‘You know what? If a guy like this really believes in me, who am I to not just at least owe it to myself to see what I can do?’ And I remember that same year I quit basketball, I didn’t try out my junior year basketball, completely bought in and did all the summer training. We came back, won state championships. Junior year, I got a state finalist in the mile. And then from there, then that same year we did a triple crown, so we won states in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track — almost all primarily from our distance team. And I was a big part to play in that. And ever since then, I just didn’t look back. And I’ve completely, just going into my senior year, I took the leadership role, I was the only junior on my varsity cross country team, so I was the only returner going into my senior year. I think from there on, I just never looked back and I kept going.
WSN: That’s a great note to end on. That’s everything I have for you. Is there anything else, Liam, that you would like to add before we close?
Hagerty: I would just say be on the lookout for some aspiring freshmen. We had some guys on the sideline, we got Eddy [Edomias Mulugeta], Paul [Tranquilla]. Those are some names to look out for. And, thank you for having me.
WSN: Thank you for speaking with me. Congratulations on such a successful cross country season, and best of luck in the upcoming indoor season.
Contact Matthew Singh at [email protected].