Ryan Terry, the only male distance runner on the St. Thomas University track and field team and the only male on the cross-country team, chose STU for the small class sizes that allow him to feel like his voice matters in class discussions.
Terry is from Riverview, N.B. a sports-oriented town. Before joining track and field in Grade 11, he did cross country.
He has been involved in many sports since he was young
“As a kid, I did wrestling, hockey, mountain biking, a little bit of water polo, soccer, baseball, badminton and volleyball,” said Terry.
Terry’s former coach hosted the Fredericton Bridge Crossing Challenge and brought Terry to province’s capital to do the 600-meter bridge crossing.
“We did the race and our coach gave out cards to possible athletes that might be coming to STU,” said Terry.
“I had a good cross country season the next year, he contacted me again and that is when I decided to come to STU.”
Terry’s relatives had also come to STU for the criminology and education programs, so he knew STU had a high-quality education.
“I knew it was good for criminology and criminal justice, and that was what I was interested in, so I decided to come here,” Terry said.
Terry hasn’t been able to compete in the past year due to multiple injuries in his body, but, that hasn’t stopped him from training really hard.
Now however, his goal is to compete again and become healthier.
He believes that although being a student-athlete can be challenging at times, balancing sports with school work is possible and depends on one’s organization skills.
“You just start prioritizing, making sure what you are doing organization-wise is based on school work, because if you don’t have your school work figured out you are going to fall behind,” said Terry.
“I’ve been doing sports all my life, so I’m used to just being on the run”.
For Terry, his team has become like his second family.
“We all warm up together, cool down together, train together, we are just good friends.”
