Illini Miler Farnsworth Goes Extra Mile in the Classroom

Students at any level in college normally have their hands full taking a full load of classes and completing all the assignments in those classes.

Try balancing that coursework with the rigors of competing for your chosen school in a particular sport at the Division I level.

It’s a difficult task, as Wheaton North product Graham Farnsworth will attest.

Farnsworth, who’ll begin his senior year at the University of Illinois later this month, runs the mile and 1,500 meters for the Fighting Illini’s men’s track and field team. The Illini have both an indoor and outdoor season, so Farnsworth runs nearly every weekend with the team from January through May.

Much more often than not, those meets are held at sites throughout the Midwest and around the country. When there’s an away meet, he and his teammates leave campus on Thursdays and don’t return until Saturday or Sunday.

That’s where discipline comes in.

“We’re on a trip, but you still have studying to do,” Farnsworth said. “You try to get everything done before you leave, but if you can’t, you make sure you get it done whenever we are.

“There’s certainly a temptation to watch TV or hang out (with teammates on the weekends), but the coaches make it pretty clear that’s part of your job. You’re still a student and you’re still in season.”

Farnsworth’s academic diligence hasn’t gone unnoticed. Recently, he was one of over 500 student-athletes in the conference selected to receive a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award for the 2010-11 academic year. The awards are given to those student-athletes who maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.7 or higher (on a 4-point scale) for the year.

“It’s pretty cool,” Farnsworth said of receiving the award. “I feel honored to get something like that. My teammates and coaches make an effort to put studies first.”

Farnsworth is pursuing a double major in English and creative writing. After graduating from Illinois next May, he would either like to go back to school and obtain a teacher’s certificate, or sign up with Teach for America—a teacher corps of recent college graduates who teach and try to affect change in under-resourced urban and rural schools. Each Teach for America recruit makes a two-year commitment.

“You try and bring school systems up in the inner city and rural schools,” said Farnsworth, who someday would like to teach and coach. “Running is a big part of my life, and it helped me get through some of those tough times. Maybe I can give some of those experiences back into another kid’s life.”

Farnsworth experienced and up-and-down year running-wise for the Illini during 2011. The indoor portion of the season couldn’t have gone any better for him. Farnsworth recorded a personal best 4:10 in the mile and consistently placed high in individual races. He also was part of Illinois’ distance medley relay team that finished third at the Big Ten indoor meet.

Throughout the outdoor season, however, Farnsworth experienced what was later diagnosed as Achilles tendinitis. Farnsworth said he started feeling pain in that area a week or two after the indoor season concluded.

“It was frustrating for me because I couldn’t figure out what was going on,” he said. “I couldn’t get up on my toes (to run) so I was kind of running on my heels.”

Farnsworth kept running despite the pain, and he continued to run once it was determined he had tendinitis.

“The type of injury that it was, it didn’t make it any worse to run on it, but it didn’t make it any better,” he said. “If at the very beginning I took off three to four weeks, it would have been OK, but we didn’t figure out what it was until toward the middle of the season. I was able to continue running, but my weekly mileage went down.” 

He says the Achilles injury is feeling a lot better due to rest and rehab work he's been doing with one of the university trainers.

Farnsworth—a three-time state track and field qualifier at Wheaton North who captured third in the 800 at the 2008 meet—now has his eye on 2012. He’s set two goals: score at the Big Ten meet, and run a sub four-minute mile.

“This is my time to do it,” he said. “My 1,500 time translates to 4:06. It’s a long shot, but it’s doable.”