Tamara Gorman a 'humble' world champion
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE MEET
Tamara Gorman is a very big deal in Rapid City, South Dakota, which is what you might expect now that she is a world champion. People flocked to the airport to greet her upon her arrival home from London, England and the International Triathlon Union Championships last month. The local media eagerly celebrated her success.
But the senior at Stevens High, favored to win her second state cross country title on Saturday on her home course, is still a little uneasy with all of the attention.
"That's something that I'm adjusting to," she said. "It's a little overwhelming. I try not to get caught up in it. I view myself as a regular person. But everyone (in Rapid City) is really supportive."
Gorman won the world junior title in the women's triathlon by swimming 750 meters, cycling for 20 kilometers and running a 5K. (Two years ago, Tony Smoragiewicz of Rapid City made the podium in the same championship, in Beijing).
Gorman has found a way to stay grounded. She spends nine hours a week working at Horace Mann Elementary School. It's a K-5 school struggling with high rates of poverty among the families it serves.
"I really love helping those kids," Gorman said. "They make my life better. I like to talk to them about their lives."
She gets classroom credit for the three days a week she goes to the elementary school, but you get feeling that she would keep going even if she didn't.
"I think that what separates Tamara from other kids that have a lot of success is that she's so humble and unassuming," Stevens cross country coach Jesse Coy said. "You could spend a week with her and not know she's the best junior triathlete in the world. I think our kids see the success she's had and how she handles the success and they want to emulate that. She makes everyone better, that's for sure."
Gorman won the state cross country title as a freshman but then was injured as a sophomore and was unable to compete last year because of where the triathlon fell on the calendar.
"The only time I ever won it was as a freshman so I'm really excited this year," she said.
Still, she placed 11th at Foot Locker Midwest and 15th at NXN Heartland last year – narrowly missing out on the qualifying for nationals in both events.
This year, the transition from triathlon to cross country has been smooth despite wildly fluctuating weather in southwest South Dakota. She took a little time off after coming from London and then eased her way back in.
"The best way to explain it is that it's almost like you start a mini-season all over again," Coy explained. "Lots of easy running, strength work, some hill sprints mixed in – (it was) just trying to keep a good balance so that when she was feeling ready to get into a workout it wouldn't be a huge shock."
She opened at the Rapid City Elks Invitational on Sept. 27 and won it with a 50-second course PR.
That race fell between weather extremes. It had been so hot school was canceled the week before the race.
And even after it, the temperature spiked to 88 degrees on Sept. 30. Four days later it plunged to freezing and a blizzard dumped 21-31 inches of snow on Rapid City.
"People weren't able to get out on the roads and in our cars, but our team went out and trained (in the snow)," Gorman said.
Three days after that, the temperature rose to 60, melted the snow and caused flood evacuations in nearby communities.
But the weather hasn't slowed down Gorman's pursuit of the cross country title. And like any successful triathlete, Gorman rolls and adapts to the next challenge.
One of the next big decisions is college. Gorman's father swam for the University of Minnesota and her brother attends the school now. But Iowa State and Wisconsin are still in the mix.
Wherever she goes will depend on a coach who will accommodate her long-term goals.
"I see myself as a triathlete," Gorman said. "But along the way I will be running in college."
