To Nicole Flounders, running is not just about chasing boys anymore.

“I originally got into it because of a boy, which is really weird,” the junior cross country runner said. “I had a crush on a boy who was running cross country in fifth grade but he never even ran. He ran for like a week and then quit.”

But Flounders didn’t quit.

Eleven years later at the Southern Illinois Invitational at Carbondale Flounders came in 11th in the 5K with a time of 18 minutes, 34.23 seconds. She was then named Female athlete of the week for the Ohio Valley Conference.

Last weekend at the Bradley University Cross Country Classic, Flounders placed eighth in the women’s 6K with a time of 22:31.

“This past weekend I felt really good, and controlled. (I) had a pretty strong finish,” Flounders said. “It was my (personal record) for the 6K and I was pretty proud of myself when it was over.”

In five of the last six meets this year, Flounders has been the first Panther to cross the finish line.

Kelly Flounders, Nicole’s younger sister, is following in her footsteps a junior runner at Southern Illinois at Edwardsville.

“This year at the Panther Invitational was the first time we got to run together since high school,” said Nicole’s younger sister. ” She did amazing. It helped me knowing she was in the race. I kept telling myself, ‘My big sister is up in the lead pack.'”

Pat Flounders, Nicole’s mother, said when the two were little, Kelly was always the faster one but Nicole made sure to change that in high school.

“At Louisville, I was in front of her for the entire race. Then about the last 200 meters I heard someone yell, ‘Let’s go Flounders!’ and I realized they weren’t yelling for me.” Kelly Flounders said. ” I was like, ‘Oh geez, that’s Nicole’ and I really wanted to beat her so I sped up. It was a full-out sprint but she still beat me in the end by like .8 seconds or something.”

The two hadn’t run together in previous years because they both red-shirted different years and when one was running, the other was injured.

Nicole is a junior NCAA eligibility wise, but a senior academically because she red-shirted her junior year because of a foot injury.

Nicole still has one year left of eligibility and plans to attend grad school.

She is looking at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Bradley University and Midwestern University.

“UIC and Bradley have cross country teams and I am kind of thinking I might try running a cross country season there,” Flounders said. ” But I want to be a doctor of physical therapy so that is a lot of work and I don’t know if I will be able to balance both of them. I might try to see where I get in and then go from there.”

Juniors Megan Balas and Jill Blondell are two members of the team that Nicole said she feels really close to because they have been in it together from the beginning.

“She is always there to help us,” Blondell said.

Blondell said Nicole has been there when Blondell and Balas have suffered through injuries.

“She is a great friend,” Blondell said.

Nicole said during their freshmen year there were about seven or eight teammates in their recruiting class but the three of them were the closest.

“We kind of joked around like, ‘Yeah, we are going to be the only ones making it to our senior years.’ And it came true; it is just the three of us who made it.” Nicole said.

Evon Schlotter, her coach from Lockport High School was one of her most influential coaches.

“Nicole is one of the hardest working runners I’ve ever coached,” Schlotter said. “She was one of those kids you have to hold back. I had to tell her no sometimes, ‘No, Nicole, you can’t do one more.'”

Nicole said that Schlotter, as well as Eastern’s head coach Geoff Masanet, both have a love for running and their runners that really helps her.

“Coach Masanet believes in you so much. More than you believe in yourself,” Nicole said.

She also participates in indoor and outdoor track, running in the 1500 and 800-meter races. Sometimes Nicole does the 3K or the 5K also.

Throughout the years running has become more and more important to Nicole for reasons that have nothing to do with boys.

“There is no better feeling then racing hard, knowing you gave everything you had and then crossing the finish line,” she said. “You can give no more and you train all year around for those couple races.”

Junior Nicole Flounders was named Ohio Valley Conference female ‘athlete of the week’ after finishing 11th during the Saluki Invitational 5k race with a time of 18:34.23. Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News

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