Strip away a court, a ball and an arbitrary scoring system.
Athletes are left with only one thing — raw competition. And there is no better example of that than in distance running exemplified by Lee Emanuel, who won the NCAA indoor title in the mile race on March 13 for the second year in a row with a time of 3:59.26.
“It is a very satisfying sport to be in,” Emanuel said. “It’s kind of man-to-man — pushing your body against somebody else’s body to try to see how fast you can push yourself and try to beat someone.”
Emanuel shot to the top of his sport last year with a 4:00.36 mile in the championship to claim the title. This year, he was burdened with the task of defending it. And not only did he succeed, he dominated at the Fayetteville, Ark. race.
“I had the perfect season in the mile this year,” Emanuel said. “Nobody beat me. I beat everyone I raced — college students and noncollege people. And I had the fastest time and won (the national title). Last year it was kind of like I was the best on that one day. This year I think I was the best over the whole season. Obviously, it is very satisfying.”
But the satisfaction comes at the finish line.
Emanuel said competitive running is a grueling task that everyone might not understand.
“It is not the most enjoyable sport to train for,” Emanuel said. “I have to train twice a day, and I just got back from running for an hour and a half. So, you need a lot of determination to push you on, but I have very high targets for myself. And I know that if I want to achieve these targets, I have to be in peak fitness.”
Head coach Joe Franklin said Emanuel has sacrificed a lot to reach maximum performance.
“Absolutely. I would say it is all consuming,” Franklin said. “What he does right now is he goes to school, he runs, he sleeps, he eats. I think for him it is the competition that drives him.”
Emanuel said he has the mile almost down to a science.
“I’m at the point now that I know that I can run a four-minute mile,” Emanuel said. “I have run it three or four times now. I know exactly what time I have to go through each lap now. I am so used to doing it.”
Lately, Emanuel has been racing only against himself.
In the championship race, Emanuel crossed the finish line a full 2.37 seconds in front of everyone else. And this season, he has perfected what won him the title last year — running from the front. It is a task that requires a pinnacle athlete, but if perfected it is almost impossible to lose — evidenced by Emanuel’s perfect record this year.
“It is hard, because it takes a lot of effort,” Emanuel said. “You have to be in peak condition to be able to do it. But, if I am feeling good in the race, I am more than willing to take the lead for more than just the last 100 meters.”
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He wants that technique to translate to the outdoor track.
Even with his massive indoor success, Emanuel said he wants to dominate both venues. He came in third place last year in the 1,500-meter outdoor championship (the outdoor equivalent of the indoor mile).
“I still have a lot of room to grow,” he said. “I think I can run a lot faster. Last year, outdoors, I didn’t do quite as well as indoors. That is my new main target.”
