For Lotte Black, it’s not always about running. The graduate student graduated with an undergraduate degree in kinesiology in three years, with a 3.9 GPA to go along with it.
“She’s an academic, all while running all three seasons,” women’s cross country, track and field head coach Laurie Feit-Melnick said.
Along with being an All-American on the track, Black is a teaching assistant for two anatomy classes. She also works at the Wakefield Running Company on Sundays, the one day of the week that she has off from running or classes. The schedule she has all comes down to a routine, which is something she prides herself on.
“She gets up at the same time, she goes to bed at the same time, she eats right, it’s been her routine that has helped her get to where she is right now,” Feit-Melnick said.
Black has been running her whole life, and developed a passion for it when she was young.
“I’m super competitive, I was always racing people when I was younger, I always wanted to win,” Black said. “My mom always said that it was something I could do because it didn’t cost a lot of money and it was a lot of fun for me.”
She joined a track club and her coach was someone who really motivated her to grow.
“She was like a second mom to me, we were always away together and we had super late practices, so she was always there for me,” Lotte said.
Black, who finished fourth in the 1500-meter event at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor National Championships said she looked at it as “just another race.”
“It was weird at first,” Black said. “Seeing all of these people that you follow on Instagram and now you’re lining up against them to race them. That was super cool. I just had to look at it as just another race.”
Black was proud to represent her family and the University of Rhode Island as well.
“It was really special hearing from people in my family saying they saw me race on TV and how proud they were of me,” Black explained.
It wasn’t always about Rhody for Black, though.
“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” Black said. “My friend was applying so I first went on an unofficial visit, then I fell in love with the area and the community.”
It was a setback in her running career that helped her get where she is today. After suffering a stress fracture in her leg and battling anemia, she wasn’t allowed to run at all.
She spent a lot of time in the pool and studying,” Feit-Melnick said. “She did a lot of different non-running exercises to make herself stronger.”
The now All-American says having to sit out that year was extremely helpful towards her academics.
“The whole University is extremely lucky to have her, we’re very blessed and fortunate to have an athlete like her on campus,” Feit-Melnick said. “She helps all the runners get better, especially the younger ones, both in and out of the classroom.”
The Women’s Cross Country team now travels to Buffalo, New York to compete in the NCAA Women’s Northeast Regional on Friday, Nov. 15. The race starts at 11 a.m. and race results will be posted on pttiming.com.