Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
(Written by Ben Nordman, Student Sports Information Assistant)

Feb. 7, 2018 - Many athletes in collegiate sports have been an athlete their whole lives, and North Central College senior women's track and field athlete Bethany Bachmann is no different. Starting at a young age, Bachmann has experience in many aspects of athletics. 

"When I was really little I played soccer and that was the only thing I played up until third grade," said Bachmann on her extensive sports career. "I also started playing basketball and a couple of years later I played softball. In junior high I stuck with basketball, volleyball and track and field and did those three up until my junior year of high school, when I tried cross country and tennis. You name it, I played it." 

One person that motivated her to be so sporty was her big sister, AnnMarie Bachmann '15, an alumna of North Central. Growing up, Bachmann looked up to her sister and followed in her footsteps on the athletic front.  

"I got to see her go through athletics and everything I was interested in at the time," said Bachmann. "It was mostly me seeing her doing something and wanting to do it; me seeing her being successful and so I wanted to be like that."  

Bachmann's decision to come to North Central was also influenced by her older sister. She was able to experience seeing what the school was like before she had to even think about where she wanted to go to school. And even though sports had been a big part of her life up until high school, Bachmann was not sure if she wanted to continue athletics in college until the track and field coaches at North Central contacted her.  

"I hadn't thought of continuing athletics into college but after meeting with [the coaches], it was definitely something that I wanted to do," she said. "I don't really know how I would have filled up my time without sports. I would have been a little lost without a team and people surrounding me with something that I really enjoy doing." 

Her teammates and friends have been a big part of her college experience, often finding her free time being filled up with "roomie nights" of watching the Bachelor and binge-watching Netflix.  

That free time can be scarce though, with the balancing act of athletics, academics and social life proving occasionally difficult, even for someone like Bachmann. 

"A lot of us have to schedule our classes around practice and you end up having to take night classes and jumbos all the time. In addition to working or doing internships, it is difficult to balance all of those aspects together," she said. 

Bachmann became pretty good with time management and quickly understand balancing everything can be even more complicated with internships and working, such as her independent study her sophomore year. She focused on delinquency in children and the correlation that has on future crimes, which she enjoyed thoroughly.  

 Bachmann has overcome her share of obstacles but is looking forward to graduation and her next chapter in life. After she gets her diploma, she plans on possibly taking a year off before going back to school to get her master's degree. Down the road, she hopes to get a job as a school psychologist. She enjoys little kids and would love to be able to work with them every day. 

Bachmann cannot get ahead of herself though, with two trimesters and a lot of running left before graduation. On the track, Bachmann has unfinished business, looking to stay healthy and post life time personal bests in her events. 

"I would like to continue [improving] for sure," she said. "It has been a long ride of injuries and I just want to get healthy and stay healthy for the rest of indoor and especially for outdoor season." 

With the number of chances she has left dwindling, her next opportunity to run is at the Pat Heenan Invitational, hosted by North Centarl, in Res/Rec on Friday, Feb. 9.