Photo Courtesy of Michael Nikkila
Senior Michael Nikkila streches before the Notre Dame invitational earlier this season.
Two hours of running per day. Sixty to 70 miles of running per week. Six days a week year-round since 2001. He has been running no less than five days a week year-round since eighth grade, which was ten years ago. And we wonder why runners are a different breed.
Senior Michael Nikkila is one the best of these unusual athletes. A math major with physics and computer science minors, Nikkila is entering his last track season on the Chargers squad.
“With that injury early on, I've been here five years,” Nikkila said. “It's familiar, comfortable—it feels like home here—but I'll be ready to leave.”
Nikkila is an outstanding runner. He has qualified and participated in the cross country nationals the last three seasons: as part of the team that qualified in 2002, individually in 2003, and individually in 2004, where he also earned All-American. Also, in the 2004 track season Nikkila qualified for Nationals in the outdoor 1500.
As a student Nikkila has tackled a difficult combination of math, physics, and computer science, and maintained a 3.5 GPA. Professor Mark Watson of the math department has worked closely with Nikkila during his time here.
“Michael works hard at all he does. He brings discipline and dedication to both his athletics and scholarship endeavors.” Watson said. “He is also a genuinely nice person with a very pleasant, unassuming personality.”
But as Nikkila would tell you, many different aspects are vital to his scholastic and athletic achievements, the first being his faith.
“You grow in your faith, grow in trusting God,” Nikkila said. “You never really know how you'll run, and you actually have to prove yourself each time you go out. It is a bigger challenge on faith than anything else.”
“He wants to glorify God in what he does,” cross country coach Bill Lundberg said. “It takes a lot of heart and soul—being out there, isolated for long distances.”
From Kearney, Nebraska, the Nikkila family is close-knit and extremely supportive—and Michael is not the only runner. Nikkila's brother, Jonathan, ran at Hillsdale before him, and his younger sister is currently running at Concordia University in Nebraska.
“Nothing pushes you more than your family,” Nikkila said. “My dad was always right there doing everything he could, Jonathan and I ran together and encouraged each other, and our younger sister—well, she's always been a step ahead of both of us—that keeps me motivated.”
In the same way, Nikkila leads the Charger men in a similar family unit—and this matrix of friendship and comradeship has become the foundation of their successful squad.
“They are very close, have shared together, some live together,” Lundberg said. “It is so crucial to be united as a team through adversity and challenges—this bond is the strength to run harder for each other.”
“Runners tend to have an odd bond,” Nikkila said. “You're out there doing the same tedious thing with your minds and bodies—mentally, spiritually, pushing your limits together—growing together.”
Because of the methodical and disciplined nature of running, success does not come easy, or fast.
“You have to be mentally motivated,” Nikkila said. “Looking to the weeks ahead, planning and training with that in mind. It's easy to focus on good days for short periods of time. But staying at a threshold, two hours of pure workout, non-stop for a whole 9-10 mile runs—it takes a different level of discipline.”
Just like a difficult and long workout, Nikkila applies determination to all areas of life.
“In a race your legs only want to go so far, and then it just becomes mental,” Nikkila said. “There are times in life where you want to slow down, you're tired, tired of the battle—but you have to remind yourself that God's got a plan, that you are capable of more than you think, and you can make it through.”