CSU cross country runner Rastall not your typical student-athlete
Sophomore grew up around green and gold
Sophomore Ellie Rastall
Nov. 13, 2009
By Andrew Woerpel Athletic Media Relations FORT COLLINS, Colo. -Ellie Rastall, a sophomore human development & family studies major, isn't your ordinary student-athlete.
Besides her constant juggle between running cross country for CSU and studying for school, the 20-year-old also recently became engaged.
This past July, Ellie was engaged to fellow sophomore runner, Jake Keyser, of the men's cross country team. Both met while competing for the cross country teams and fell in love.
"I got engaged in July of this summer and we are getting married next June!" Rastall said.
Rastall picked up her knack for running early on in life, as both of her parents are avid runners. Both have competed in long marathons, and her mother plans to run in the Boston Marathon in the spring. Rastall's father also puts together a 26-mile hike every summer, climbing five mountains around Pingree Park, and takes around 17 hours to complete in one day. Her parents also played somewhat of a role in the reasoning behind Rastall choosing to attend CSU.
"My dad is the director of Pingree Park," Rastall said, "both of my parents are employed by CSU, so we grew up being a huge Rams family, which is probably another reason why I came here. I definitely wasn't going to go to CU (laughing). We did a lot of outdoor mountaineering stuff when I was little, and then I started running when I was in high school. My parents both run; they have done ultra 100-mile races in the past. They are getting a little older now, so they don't do that as much anymore."
A big reason Rastall chose to run at CSU was she would be close to her family and have the chance to stay in her hometown. She has dinner with her family once a week, and when asked if she gets help with her with laundry like any other typical college student would hope for, she was quick to point out, that does not happen.
"Well, they don't do my laundry (laughing)," she said. "I do see them quite a bit though; I go have dinner at their house every Sunday night with my fiancé, and that is a lot of fun," Rastall said.
There was never any doubt where she would go to school, especially after she met Head Coach Bryan Berryhill.
"I grew up in Fort Collins and I chose to come to CSU because I love this town, and I also really like Coach Berryhill," Rastall said. "He is a big reason I came here, because I think he has done great things with this program and has even more great things to come. I like this town a lot. I feel like there is a good community here and they are very supportive of the college."
Balancing school and sports is always a hardship for student-athletes. Rastall has experienced first-hand how tough it can be to handle such a large responsibility, but with a 3.36 GPA, it's safe to say she has a pretty good system going for her.
"It is definitely a challenge, but every year I get a little more experienced and get better at it," Rastall said. "When I am at practice I just try to think about practice, and when I have tests I try not to think about running as much and try to focus on my schoolwork. It is definitely something I have learned over the past few years."
Other than running, Rastall has found another passion in life, working with children. And, with all the hard work she has put into school, Rastall is well on her way to achieving her goals once she graduates with her degree in human development & family studies.
"I would like to go into the early childhood education program," Rastall said. "I love working with kids. I worked with a summer school kindergarten program this summer and it was really fun."
Now that she has transitioned from her freshman to sophomore season, Rastall has proven that she is the go-to runner for the Rams. Not only has she finished first on the team in the majority of races this year, all but one to be exact, she was also named first-team all-conference two weeks ago at the Mountain West championships in Provo, Utah.
"It was pretty exciting," Rastall said. "It was a fun race, and I think it was a big mental step for me, as I improved a lot mentally in that race. I have matured a lot more this season as a runner. Last year I didn't know what I was doing as much and was intimidated quite a bit. I feel that over the summer I gained confidence in my own running ability, and that has been a huge help from the start of the year and now carrying through."
As for the women's team as a group, Rastall believes they are coming along quite nicely, and it is just a matter of time before they finally break out.
"Our team has definitely progressed every race," Rastall said. "We are taking little steps, and have been taking little steps all season. We are just waiting for that breakout race to happen where everyone has a good day on the same day and things just click."
Rastall and the women's team will try to put together that breakout race on Saturday as they travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Mountain Regional championships in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA championships, which take place in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 23.
