North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Finally, He's Stephen 'First'
4/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track
BY TIM PEELER
From their first meeting, Geiger promised to call the walk-on from
For nearly three years, Furst wondered if he would ever hit his stride. He may have been a walk-on, but he had high expectations of what he could contribute to the Wolfpack’s nationally recognized distance running program. For years, he trained as well as any of his teammates, but he never lived up to his own goals.
“I was working really hard with the rest of the guys, but not racing at a high level,” Furst said. “That was really difficult for me because I wasn’t seeing the hard work translate into good performances.
“By my junior year, I started to race better. But it was disappointing to me to be training well and have people think Steve may be able to contribute here’ but then to perform below my training level.”
Even though he twice won All-ACC honors in cross country, it wasn’t quite enough.
He never reached that level in indoor or outdoor track and field, while switching between middle-distance and long-distance events. He had his most success in the 1,500 meters, finishing fifth at the ACC Championship as a sophomore and seventh in the mile as a junior.
But he finally hit his stride last weekend, when he became only the third runner in NC State history to win both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races at the ACC Championships in
Today, Furst travels with four of his teammates to compete in the Penn Relays, the country’s largest and oldest amateur track and field event. He’ll run in the 5,000 meters, hoping to ride his wave of momentum from the ACC Championship.
“I can’t say I was surprised with the results,” said Furst. “I was certainly happy with it. It wasn’t a shock to me after gradual improvement over the last five years to be in a position for the wins.”
But it may have been a shock to others. Furst came to NC State intent on getting a degree in aerospace engineering. He talked his way on to the cross country and track teams, thanks in great part to the recommendation of several Northeast college coaches who knew the Furst family.
His father, Richard Furst, is the girls track coach at Warwick Valley High School, whose once-promising college career at Clemson was cut short by an Achilles injury. His older brother, Eric, was an academic All-America during his track career at Bucknell. When Army coach Jerry Quiller vouched for Furst, Geiger gave him a shot to contribute as a walk-on.
Furst had stiff competition. Last cross country season, he was part of a six-man senior class that helped the Wolfpack finish second in the ACC Champions and win the NCAA Southeast Regional. The team finished 14th nationally.
Furst steadily improved his running performances, though he was primarily a middle distance runner in track until this season. But because of his training regimen, he believed he could help the Wolfpack in the 10,000 meters, and, for the second time in his career, sat down to convince Geiger that he could help. He talked the coach into letting him train for the 10,000.
“It was another example of the student-athlete guiding the coach, which happens a lot in this program,” Geiger said.
All the while, Furst has diligently balanced his running in three varsity sports with his academics. He earned his degree in aeronautical engineering last year and is one semester away from earning a masters degree in mechanical engineering. He’s already looking for the right research project to begin working on his doctorate in engineering.
He’s maintained a grade point average of nearly 3.85, but he’s never pulled an all-nighter.
“You kind of get into a groove and you don’t ever really get out of it,” Furst said, explaining how he manages school and athletics. “You are basically working at something all day, whether you are working at running, or school work or research. Whatever you are doing is working for one of your goals. It’s not like you are sitting in a cube 12 hours a day, you presumably are doing something you enjoy.
“You just never get into a phase where you are relaxed all the time. The key is to stay ahead on required assignments and you can never sacrifice things like sleep, because then you are sacrificing your athletics.”
Furst spent the last two summers working for the
After he finishes his doctorate, Furst would perhaps like to work for the space agency for a few years before starting his own science-related business.
For Geiger, Furst is exactly the kind of student-athlete that makes coaching rewarding.
“He went from an athlete we weren’t recruiting, to someone who went to the Penn Relays and didn’t do very well as a freshman, to someone who won two ACC Championship,” Geiger said. “He is such a success story. He will be such a success in life. He will contribute back to this university for years.”
For now, Furst is concentrating on completing his athletics career. He would dearly love to shine at the Penn Relays, which he attended numerous times as a kid.
“There are people back at home that haven’t seen me run at this level who have now heard that I have won a couple of races, so they are going to be excited to see me race,” Furst said. “It is a lot to do in a week to run a 10K, a 5K then another 5K.
But I still feel pretty good. My training was really high volume.
“I feel plenty fresh.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
