Dec. 8, 2008

Garden City, N.Y. - Danielle Lyons, a sophomore at Adelphi University, has what it takes to be a superstar. Lyons, an all-around scholar athlete, has the character that AU wants to instill in every one of its students. Lyons left her hometown of South Glastonbury, Connecticut to experience life in New York, while being a student athlete. Lyons had great success throughout high school and that did not stop with the transition to college. Originally, Lyons was recruited to play softball for Adelphi, but quickly found herself on the track.

In high school, Lyons greatest accomplishment in track was winning the 4x800 meter relay event, during her senior year at New England's Reggie Lewis Center, in Boston, MA. That season was the first year Lyons ever ran cross country and it gave her the endurance that she needed to move up to middle distance events like the 800m, as well as helping her teammates win the New England title.

Lyons said, "It was really special because it was a great accomplishment to not only be a New England champion but in that race my coaches took a chance by electing me to lead off the relay." She went on to run the fastest half-mile split that year during her leg of the relay. This event "turned out to be a rewarding individual moment as well." That 4x800 meter relay team then went on to become an all-American relay team later on during the indoor season.

Lyons too has compared her past achievements to the accomplishments she has had at Adelphi. In the past few years Lyons has competed in track, but never competed individually. "I always competed in a relay," Lyons said. This past season her greatest accomplishments came in individual events: the open 800 and 1000-meter events.

"Learning to run on my own not only took a lot of hard work, physically day in and day out, but also mentally. I had to learn to believe in myself more and know that I had what it took to have a great race and potentially compete on the national level." Lyons went further by stating that she thinks last season's greatest accomplishment came in believing that "I could run with girls from Division I programs and to have more faith in my abilities."

Inspiration or just plain old skill? For Lyons, skill obviously is there, but she needed some kick by her coaches. "Track was never my #1 sport." Since high school her coaches were pushing her to run track. Lyons actually came to college on a softball scholarship originally.

"My coach, Adam Siepiola, at Adelphi encouraged me to stick with the sport." Siepola has the eye for raw talent and he realized there was a lot of potential in Lyons, which nobody else really saw. Lyons went on by saying "he took a big chance with me, bringing me into a program straight off the softball field and he really made me what I am today." Although her high school coaches (Brian Collins and Peter Oviatt) really instilled her passion and work ethic for the sport, "it was truly Adam that made me as good as I am today, he never gave up on me and really pushed me to be great."

The Panthers eye on next season is huge! The open 800m and the mile are Lyons' target events. This season she put in lot of miles for cross country and looks forward to doing some longer events specifically the mile, to really showcase the new strength base that she has from running cross this year that she never had going into last year.

Off the track, Lyons is your normal student who has her own lifetime goals outside of sports. Lyons' life goal is to be a nurse practitioner. "I would really love to open up my own clinic one day and to help families and perhaps, even use my nursing degree to travel the world and help those in other countries who are less fortunate," Lyons said.

Putting the focus back to track, she has some pretty big goals. The goals include achieving all-American status in her events and one day even trying for an individual national title.

"Each of my goals involves a lot of hard work and dedication and I know neither task will be easy but I have a lot of amazing people behind me and I know that with them and with my own determination I will able to accomplish great things," concluded Lyons.

Richard Pikul is a senior at Adelphi University.