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Ashley Wilhelm placed in four events at last weekend's All-Ohio Indoor Track Championships to lead UC to a fourth place finish. She is now preparing for the Bearcats' first BIG EAST Indoor Championships on Feb. 18.
How are you preparing for next weekend's BIG EAST Meet?
"I'm trying to get all of my technical work done. I have until Wednesday to get all of that taken care of. I'm going to be hydrating myself and getting my sleep, and just visualizing a lot."
After the BIG EAST meet and hopefully NCAA's, what is next for you?
"My plans are to redshirt this outdoor season. My goal is to do a decathlon because it finally came to the United States for women. I'm really interested in doing that this spring. I will compete with the team in open meets. I think I could be really good at the decathlon because my vaults have been coming up, and I have all the events down already so I might as well just try it. I'll compete outdoors here next year, and go from there. If I'm doing well, I'd like to do some more training."
What difference, if any, have you seen in the BIG EAST competition?
"That's a good question because we haven't seen them yet. The first time we see everyone is this weekend. I saw some girls against Louisville and DePaul, and that was good because I could see where I was. The BIG EAST is really competitive, and we'll definitely have our work cut out for us. People thought it would be easier than C-USA because it is up north. The BIG EAST is probably a little bit harder. Everyone on our team has to qualify to get here, and we don't have a lot of qualifiers. So we will probably rely on relays."
How would you like to be remembered at UC?
"As 'the girl who is running everywhere at every meet.' On Saturday, I had three events - high jump, pole vault, and long jump - that all started at 11:30, and I had people coming up to tell me I was on deck or in the hole for certain events. I wasn't recruited at all coming in, and I was all set to go somewhere else and not run track. Then this kind of fell into my lap, and I'm really glad that this opportunity fell into my lap. So I guess I would like to be remembered as the girl that came in as the underdog and just worked really hard. When I'm not in the classroom, I'm usually here (Armory Fieldhouse), and I work as hard as I can and put everything into it."
What is your favorite place to be on or off campus?
"No matter how busy my weekends are with traveling and stuff, on Sundays at 6 o'clock, I'm always at my parents' house. I have dinner, and my whole family comes over. I'm the youngest of six kids, and I have eight nieces and nephews (with one on the way)."
What is your role as a senior on the team?
"I can tell that a lot of the girls look up to me, and if they have questions about anything, they always come to me. Sometimes I don't know the answer, but I try my best. I'm kind of in between the coach and the freshmen. If they are scared to go to the coach, they will come to me. I guess I've been a pretty big role model."
Who has been a major influence on you?
"When I first started my career, my biggest influence was my sister Rhonda. She held all the records at my high school. She always told me that I could be good at this and to go for it. I ended up breaking her records. My parents and my sister have only missed a handful of my meets, and they are really able to calm me down. When I got here, Jim (Schnur) - the multi-event coach - has really been a big influence on me. He really knows his stuff. I know that I can call him up any time of the day, and he'll come down to Armory and practice."