The Midway is featuring athletes, selected at random, from school teams for informal interviews about their sports. Suna Choi Hortaçsu is a sophomore on the track and field team. Suna’s responses have been lightly edited for clarity, style and length.
How long have you been doing track and field?
“I did track and field in sixth grade and then I started again last year.”
Why did you start track and field?
“Most recently because I really liked cross country and it’s basically the same team from cross country and track and since I like running I decided to just continue throughout the whole year.”
What events do you do?
“I run the 800, 1,600, the 4 x 800 relay, and the 4 x 400 relay.”
What’s your favorite event that you do?
“The 4 x 400 because I find that relay events are a lot more fun because it’s a lot more of a team and generally track isn’t really like a team sport because you’re running alone for a lot of it, but the relay gives you the chance to have that team experience.”
What’s one thing in your gear bag you can’t live without and why?
“My running shoes, I have HOKA’s and they’re my favorite shoes that I’ve tried out so far and it’s definitely important to keep getting new shoes after a certain point to prevent injury.”
What song do you have to listen to as you get ready for a race and why?
“I really like this song called ‘Woke Up’ by XG which is a Japanese girl group.”
If you could design your own jersey what would it look like?
“Our current singlets are very baggy so I want something tight-fitting and definitely like some kind of bedazzling gems on the UChicago Lab School.”
What’s your favorite pre-meet snack?
“I really like eating cuties before a meet because it’s not too heavy on the stomach, but it’s sweet and hydrating.”
If you could meet one professional athlete, who would it be and why?
“I would want to meet Sha’Carri Richardson because I really look up to her even though she’s a short distance runner, but I think that her style and the way she’s so unapologetically herself even on national TV is really inspiring.”
What is your favorite gatorade flavor?
“I think I like the blue the best.”
What’s your favorite thing about track and field?
“The team because I see them five times a week and it’s always very encouraging and I just look forward to track practice just knowing that I’ll see my teammates.”
What’s your favorite way to celebrate after a meet?
“Usually I get really hungry throughout the course of a meet so as soon as I’m finished running all my events I go and buy something like a quesadilla or nachos from the stand and I just eat.”
How do you handle nerves or just a disappointing race?
“After a disappointing race I make sure to still take care of myself and go on a cool down run and stretch and just tell myself that this is not the end all be all race and there’s still going to be more.”
What’s your favorite track and field memory?
“Recently I was really trying to go for a personal record in the 1,600 and I was trying to go sub-six minutes and it was one of our home meets so the Midway miles, I think the second Midway mile. I got like 5:59.98 or something like that, it was really close, but I was so happy and all my teammates knew that I really wanted to go sub-six so they were all at the finish line and cheering ‘Yay you got sub-six’.”