Reed Kamyszek is always taking some sort of course.

First, there are the Syracuse courses. With his biochemistry major complete, the senior concentrates on his other major, ethics and his psychology minor.

Then there are the medical school applications — the top ones, this side of the Mississippi River, Kamyszek needs to stay the course and finish.

And lastly, 2–3 hours per day, six days a week, he spends on an actual course as a top runner on the Syracuse men’s cross-country team. The team is ranked sixth in the nation, which prepares for the Atlantic Coast Conference championships in three weeks. Time management and organization are keys to his success because, for him, running and school are the same.

When it comes to his 4.0 GPA, his NCAA Elite 89 award and an eighth overall finish in Syracuse’s most recent meet, he approaches all of these with the same mind-set and a methodical game plan.

“In cross-country, there are four or five major races during your season,” he said. “In a class, there are four or five major exams.”

He admitted that the spacing of these tests might differ between the two areas, but he stressed that consistency is the biggest part.

“There’s a difference between simply going to lecture and paying attention,” he said. “And the same thing goes for practice. Are you mentally up for (either)?”

Every day starts at 7:25 a.m. on the same street corner, where a group of cross-country teammates get an early run in. Then comes breakfast — mostly organic food he cooks himself — before lectures, workouts, dinner, homework and 8–9 hours of sleep to finish the day.

And his attention to detail was fostered at a young age.

“We had high expectations. We harked on the kids, ‘My name’s attached to you, don’t mess it up,’” Kamyszek’s father, Eric, said with a laugh about his and his wife Dawn’s parenting style.

In school, he consistently received top marks in the classroom and impressed athletically. In sixth grade, during a mandatory mile run for gym class, Kamyszek flew to a 5:30 time.

Kamyszek dropped hockey his freshman year at Kenowa Hills High School in Michigan and went under the tutelage of Greg Meyer — who won the Boston Marathon in 1983 and before this year, was the last American to do so. Meyer trained any and all high school kids in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.

Any skill level was welcome and it was free.

Kamyszek soon began dominating his conference. By junior year, he won the Division II cross-country state championship in the fall and the 2-mile event in track in the spring. He was so successful running that he began to lose, on purpose — but only to his teammates.

During the regular season, he would slow up toward the end of meets and allow his teammates to pass him across the finish line. He wanted to share the spotlight and give his teammates ink in the paper.

He did this because Kamyszek is only competitive with himself, not his teammates or opponents.

“I don’t like to lay out what I’m going to do beforehand,” Kamyszek said when asked if he trash talks. “Everyone’s there to learn, so why would you hinder someone’s ability to do that?”

This comes from the Midwestern sensibility Syracuse coach Chris Fox can’t help but mention when discussing Kamyszek.

“He only does things that make sense,” he said. “He’s very calculating.”

On a team-wide scale, Kamyszek said, it doesn’t matter who’s the first or fifth man because everyone has to pass the person in front of them to help the team. Especially because points matter so much, particularly in championships, and that’s where the Orange will be in just three short weeks.

Until then, Kamyszek will stay on course, repeating his routine, because he knows that’s the quickest way to success.

“The last thing you want to do (is get overwhelmed),” Kamyszek said. “If that happens, your work suffers — and that’s the last thing you want to happen.”

Published on October 15, 2014 at 12:05 am

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR