Runner Skieresz Walks Away

Amy Skieresz, one of the most successful distance runners in NCAA history while at Arizona, has retired from national-class running.

Skieresz, 23, won seven NCAA titles in track and field, and cross-country, but the 1995 graduate of Agoura High said she no longer has the motivation to train and compete at the elite level.

“It’s just a feeling I’ve had for the last couple of months,” said Skieresz, who graduated from Arizona in December with a bachelor’s degree in English. “There wasn’t a specific instant when it hit me and I said, ‘Wow. This is it.’ But I wasn’t committed enough to try to make the Olympic team. You have to be totally focused and committed to running if you’re trying to make the Olympic team and I wasn’t. Running has to be your life and it wasn’t for me.”

Skieresz, a two-time state champion in cross-country for Agoura, won the 1996 NCAA cross-country title as a sophomore at Arizona and was second in 1995, 1997 and 1998.

In track, she won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the 1997 and 1998 NCAA outdoor championships and was indoor champion in the 5,000 both years.

She used the 1999 track season as a redshirt year because of leg injuries.

Although Skieresz has retired from high-caliber competition, running remains a part of her life.

“I still love running,” she said. “I still run every day, and when I have the time, I run twice a day. But it’s time for me to become a recreational runner and get my career started.”