By Katy Rank Lev

Brian Harvey's honorable championship run

Brian Harvey leans forward, poised for the start. Representing the Tartans at the NCAA Division III cross-country national championships, the senior stands among 280 of the best runners in the country. The gun fires, and there is a mad dash to find open space among moving knees and elbows. The starter trips in his haste to escape the charging athletes and curls into a ball. "I have to get out of here," Harvey thinks, sucking in the 20-degree air, swerving his way forward. Amid the chaos of runners jumping out of the way of the human roadblock, Harvey finds himself in the lead.

He has been a runner as long as he can remember. His first lasting memory is of a rainy, cold afternoon jogging with his mother around their neighborhood in Ellicott City, Md. They ran six one-mile loops through the hills. A few months later, he ran his first 10K at seven years old. Hooked on the challenge running provided as much as the mathematical ways a course could be broken into small sections—mini-problems to solve one at a time—he dedicated the bulk of his free time toward the pursuit of the pavement.

The 8K race in Hanover, Ind., on the frozen ground is much colder than Harvey's formative runs. He pushes himself—clad only in gloves, tank top, and race shorts—to keep warm. Out of one eye, he spies a competitor get stepped on and lose a shoe. Harvey remembers outdoor track nationals his sophomore year, when the same thing happened to him. "Run hard, stay clear of the trouble," he tells himself.

He attacks his studies with the same fortitude that pushes him to run more than 85 miles every week. The double major in mechanical and biomedical engineering maintains a 3.97 GPA while competing in cross-country, indoor, and outdoor track. Last year, as a junior, Harvey received ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American honors and as a sophomore was named to the second team. He's won cross-country regionals twice (the only Tartan ever to do so), and for the past two years the NCAA named him Division III Mideast Region Athlete of the Year for his running prowess. But he says nothing he's accomplished matters in the thick of a race. He concentrates only on his strategy.

Halfway into the championships, another runner makes a move and darts ahead. Harvey is shocked and loses his concentration. Other runners take advantage, and Harvey slides into 25th place. His chance for All American honors, given to the top 35 finishers, will evaporate if he doesn't pick up his pace. He's trained to dig deep, though.

"You can't outwork Brian," says his roommate Breck Fresen, referring to running and the classroom. He recalls how Harvey once completed more than 20 hours worth of practice exams before a Differential Equations final.

At nationals, Harvey validates his roommate's assessment and begins to kick, passing 16 runners along the way to finish in the top 10 and earn All American honors for the second straight year.