Craig Engels
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
| Born | May 1, 1994 Pfafftown, North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track, cross country | ||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 meters, mile | ||||||||||||||
| College team | North Carolina State Mississippi | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal best | 1500 meters: 3:38.82[1] | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on April 12, 2016 | |||||||||||||||
Craig Engels (born May 1, 1994) is an American middle-distance runner. He competed for the United States at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where he won the men's 1500 meters. In the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Engels was focused on making the semi-finals of the 800m and was listed as an alternate for the 1500m. He finished 4th in the 800m final and 5th in the 1500m, final barely missing out on the Olympics in both events.
Running career
High school
Engels attended Ronald W. Reagan High School until he graduated in 2012. In addition to running cross country and track, he played for his school's soccer team and was a member of the Earth Club at his school.[2] By the time he graduated from Reagan in 2012, he had set his school's records in the 800 meters, mile, and 3200 meters.[3] His best high school mile time was recorded at the 2012 Adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile, where he ran 4:03.96, which as of 2015 is the state high school record mile time for North Carolina.[3] Throughout high school, Engels was coached by Reagan's cross country and track coach Chris Catton.
Collegiate
Engels first attended North Carolina State with an athletic scholarship. During his freshman year, he was redshirted and experienced chronic injury problems.[4] In the summer after his freshman year, he traveled with the US junior national team to Colombia to compete at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where he won the 1500 meters. Just four months after this, during winter break, Engels decided to terminate his enrollment at NC State. He considered stopping competitive running altogether, but was urged by his high school coach, Chris Catton, not to quit.[4] During his winter of uncertainty, he sent gifts individually to his teammates at NC State as a sign of goodbye, and also bought a used recreational vehicle on Craigslist, which broke down immediately after purchase.[4]
By early 2014, with some persuasion from Mississippi coach Ryan Vanhoy, who had tried recruited Engels as a high schooler two years earlier, Engels transferred to University of Mississippi.[4]
References
- ^ All-Athletics. "Profile of Craig Engels".
- ^ Ben Rohrbach (June 20, 2012). "North Carolina Boys Track AOY: Craig Engels".
- ^ a b Reagan Track and Field. "Reagan Track and Field Records 2006-2014" (PDF).
- ^ a b c d Brant Wilkerson (April 16, 2015). "Engels runs to the beat of a different drum".