“I realized when I came through seven laps at eight minutes and eighteen seconds, ‘Wow, this is way faster than anything I have ever ran.’ I gave it all I had on the last lap and I crossed the finish line and I knew I just ran a crazy time,” senior distance runner Mikolaj Krajewski said. At the Sacramento Meet of Champions on April 29, Krajewski ran the third fastest 3,200m event time in Lowell history, with a new personal record of 9:27.30.

On the day of the meet, Krajewski did not have his teammates to warm up with because he was running the night event, making him more nervous at this more competitive and bigger-scale meet. “I figured that this was all on me — today, just go for it,” Krajewski said. “Don’t hold anything back.”

He decided to warm up away from the meet and play music from The Beatles’ album, Revolver. The soothing beats of the Beatles relieved the stress on his mind. “It made the entire warm up process more relaxing,” Krajewski said. “I think I approached the race more relaxed than I usually do, that in turn helped me run faster.”

Once the gun went off, Krajewski ran to the front with the first pack of runners. After running through a mile in, he realized that he was running comfortably. “The race at that point never felt as easy as it did and I realized that today is possibly the day that I could run a really special race,” Krajewski said. He finished the race in eleventh place out of the 20 runners, who are some of the fastest runners in Northern California.

In the beginning of the season, Krajewski wanted a mark below 9:40 in 3,200m to qualify for the Arcadia invitational meet in Los Angeles, a meet that he has wanted to run since freshman year. However, his 3,200m mark fell short to qualify for the meet. He was upset and had a temporary mental setback because he could not participate in one of his longest-held ambitions. He did not want this setback to ruin his entire season, so instead he redirected his focus towards qualifying for the Sacramento Meet of Champions.

As the season progressed, he was able to drop seconds off his 3,200m record with the help from his teammates and head coach Andy Leong. For Krajewski, his biggest motivation for distance running are the small successes such as making a new record. “I’m reaping the benefits of all the hard work and pain that I have put in,” Krajewski said. “That for me is the biggest reward.”

Running has gotten him through Lowell. “I don’t think I would be able to survive Lowell without the two hour break that I get from running everyday,” Krajewski said. “It helped me focus on something other than tests or classwork.”

Through track and cross-country, he has also met some of his best friends — it is more than running. “I can run with friends and we can joke around,” Krajewski said. “We can run around the city and explore the beautiful trails and paths the city offers.”

He realized he loved running because of the people he is surrounded by in both track and cross-country. “The entire environment is really conducive and I really wanted to be a part of that,” Krajewski said. “I feed off [my teammates’ energy] and their positivity helps me perform individually and that in turns makes me love running because of that.”

“I don’t think I would be able to survive Lowell without the two hour break that I get from running everyday”

Since freshman year, Krajewski has progressed as a student-athlete. “He has matured like a lot of my best athletes that I have ever had,” Leong said. “He is the type of athlete that you want on your team; he goes to practice, works hard, asks questions but doesn’t ask silly questions.”

With All-City and States approaching in the next two weeks. Krajewski continues to work hard to prepare for both meets. Krajewski hopes that the team will take home the All-City championship title again and he will individually qualify for the 3,200m event at the state meet. In order to improve on Krajewski’s speed, Leong has been trying to get his turnovers faster through quick-feet drills.

“I would like to see [Krajewski] be competitive at the state meet and hopefully he will be there,” Leong said. “I don’t see anybody touching him.”