CU Boulder sprinter/hurdler Valerie Welch talks candidly about the ups and downs of being a student athlete. Having earned a trip to nationals in the 4x4 relay and qualifying for the west region preliminary round in the 400 hurdles as a sophomore, Val entered her junior season in the best shape of her life. She was confident and learned to tame her race anxiety. On top of that, she excelled in school despite a rigorous engineering course load. In March 2020, she earned a coveted spot on Colorado's Distance Medley Relay team, a team that was sure to achieve All-American status at the NCAA Indoor Nationals meet- only to be pulled off the track due to meet being cancelled because of Covid. 

Val talks about the struggles to train during the shutdown, and the frustration of not performing at the pre-pandemic level her senior year. She gets real about how despite doing all the right things, her value as an athlete to her coach changed when she wasn't putting up the same times. Unfortunately, Val's experience is extremely relatable to a lot of other student athletes. Despite a less than fairytale end to her career, Val will forever cherish the memories and lifelong friends that came out of the sport. Today you can catch Val tearing it up on the Ultimate Frisbee fields. This episode is funny, honest, and a great conversation with an awesome person.