DISTANCE RUNNER KOSINSKI SIGNS WITH OREGON

By Joe Hartman, DyeStatCal
       On a drizzly Wednesday morning similar to a day in the Pacific Northwest, Alex Kosinski, a senior at Oak Ridge High School, signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday to attend the University of Oregon. Alex currently competes in cross country and track for the Oak Ridge Trojans. She is the two-time defending section champion in cross country in Division 2 and finished fifth in the state during her sophomore and junior seasons. She is favored to win her third cross country section title on Friday.

       In track and field, Alex has become one of the top milers in the nation. She has been the California state runner-up two years in a row (in 2005 to Annie St. Geme and in 2006 to Christina Babcock of Woodbridge). Her time of 4:42.31 last June ranks in the top five all-time at the CIF state track meet. Eight days later at the Golden West Invitational, Alex probably had her best race of the season. In a duel with Nicole Blood (the USATF junior cross country national champion) and Jordan Hasay (the FootLocker national high school cross country champion), Alex ran a 4:42.93 full mile and was just edged by Hasay by a single stride. Previously in May of 2005, Alex broke the 21-year old section meet record with a time of 4:53.89 in the 1600 meters. She lowered that record even further in May of this year.

       The four-lap race is Alex' premiere event but she has also showed great range as indiciated by her 2:10.82 in the 800 meters at the Sacramento Meet of Champions on 4-29-06 and her 10:40 3200 meters at the Woody Wilson Invitational on 4-14-06. She appears to be completely recovered from an August stress fracture in her foot that required months of cycling and swimming to maintain her endurance and strength. Alex is coached by Rob Fairley and John Mansoor at Oak Ridge High School. Her parents are Jim and Jeanne Kosinski.

Brief interview with Alex:

DyeStatCal: You chose to run for the University of Oregon. What was the turning point for you to decide run for the Ducks?
Alex: They have a really good team and there are a lot of good girls to run with. And the coaches are really good.
DyeStatCal: What will your major be in?
Alex: I don’t know yet, I’ll probably be undecided.
DyeStatCal: What were the other schools you were considering?
Alex: Berkeley. It came down to the last couple days. It was really between Cal and Oregon. I made the decision two days ago.
DyeStatCal: Do you have a different appreciation for swimming now that you’ve gone through this rehab?
Alex: Yeah, running is so much shorter (time-wise) but swimming is something that takes so much longer to get a good workout. It’s really hard.
DyeStatCal: What can you say about what mom and dad (Jeanne and Jim Kosinski) have done for you through your career so far?
Alex: They’ve been really supportive. They weren’t pushing me to one college or another. They were just being helpful and letting me decide for myself. Dad’s a really good swimmer. It’s been good to work out with him