Think about it. Maybe you could read four pages of a book. Or memorize three lines of a poem. Or watch two Youtube videos. Or eat one bowl of cereal. Or not do anything. Five minutes is short enough you could even do nothing at all.
What can senior Amanda Putt do in five minutes?
Putt can run a mile in five minutes. Less than five minutes, actually: 4:47.03. She, relatively, runs the 1,500 even faster: 4:24.84.
Putt is a two-time national champion and a five-time All-American. She holds six school records: five for indoor track (the 800, mile, 3,000, 5,000, and DMR) and one for outdoor (the 1,500).
Despite the national titles and school records, Putt remains ever gracious. If you’ve met Putt, you like her. If you haven’t, you blew it.
On the academic side of campus, Putt holds a 3.84 GPA. She is majoring in biology and minoring in biochemistry. In the fall she’ll attend graduate school at the University of Michigan where she hopes to get her masters in public health.
Putt is the embodiment of what Hillsdale College wants out of its student athletes. She balances — with poise — the mental exhaustion of academics and the physical exhaustion of athletics.
She is the greatest female distance runner to attend this college, but to talk to her, you wouldn’t know it. How can you be one of the top college athletes in the country and remain humble? Ask Amanda Putt.
From April 26 to 28, the college will be hosting the Gina Relays. Hundreds of athletes from all over the Midwest are coming to Hillsdale to compete — among them, some of the best in the nation.
Students are admitted free. Take advantage of it.
For the price of nothing but your time, you have an opportunity to watch your classmates compete in track and field.
You can watch junior Kayla Caldwell, ranked first nationally in the pole vault. She placed second at indoor nationals and she’s hell-bent on getting the national title in outdoor.
Or you can watch seventh-ranked senior Jen Shaffer in the 800. Or eleventh-ranked senior Nate English in the shot put. Or sophomore Maurice Jones, who is 0.7 seconds away from the national top 10 in the 400. There is a story for every athlete on the team.
But if you show up for just one event, make it the 1,500-meter run on Friday at 7:55 p.m.
Amanda Putt, the greatest female distance runner in Hillsdale College history, will line up against some of the other top female runners in the country.
Five minutes out of your Friday evening is all it takes to watch Putt run. Less than five minutes, actually.
What else will you do with those five minutes?
