Slovakian making presence felt at USU
Why is the reigning Slovakian champion in the 1,500-meter run, Dusan Hlubocky, running for the Utah State University cross country team? There are a lot of reasons. Hlubocky said he wanted to be here. “I love nature and the mountains,” he said. He said he’s always wanted to run at a high elevation to increase his stamina and run more competitively. “I want to qualify for the Olympics,” he said. He is just seven seconds shy of Olympic qualifying time in the 1,500 meter. He came to improve on that time. Last December, Hlubocky started writing to the Athletics department at USU. He received a good response and was given the invitation to come and run. The Athletics department has worked hard to get him to Logan and after a third place finish in the Stanford Invitational this year with a time of 25:01, “everyone respects him,” teammate Mitch Zundell said. The Stanford Invitational was the first cross country race Hlubocky had ever run in. He’s used to running the 800-meter and 1,500-meter races. “He’s got great character and loves to be with the other runners,” cross country coach Greg Gensel said. “Dusan is in this for the whole team and his focus will come right back to help him.” Hlubocky comes from a family of four. His father is a businessman who specializes in garage doors and his mother is a computer programmer. He also has a younger brother. He said he misses his family and looks forward to seeing them again. “My little brother would keep me up at night by playing his guitar,” he said. Hlubocky is used to challenges. He’s been studying mechanical engineering in his own country with a focus on German. The German has now been switched to English and now that he’s in the United States, communication has become another challenge. “It’s one of the reasons that I’m here. I expected it to be hard,” Hlubocky said. Even though teammates don’t understand his native tongue, they still know he’s a leader. “He leads through actions more than words,” Zundell said. “He’s always been a great leader, and he listens and follows until it’s time for him to lead.” Hlubocky’s future plans include staying in Logan for two years and then returning to his country to finish his degree. In Slovakia, students are only allowed a two-year leave of absence before they lose all previous course work. He started running when he was 16, and one year later he started to represent his country in the 800 and 1,500. Now at the age of 22 he hopes to be able to improve enough to represent Slovakia in the Olympics. After the cross country season Hlubocky will run track for USU in the 800, 1,500 and the 3,000-meter races.