It runs in the family: Holt siblings propel each other to success at USU
They are brother and sister, but don’t look for any sibling rivalry between Jason and Alicia Holt.
“I push him and he pushes me,” Alicia said. “We support each in every way we can.”
The Holts, natives of Orem, Utah up to their junior high school years, run for the USU men’s and women’s cross country teams. Jason is a junior, Alicia a sophomore.
Each is among the top five runners on the team. Being brother and sister, both say they are a great support system for each other.
Jason placed 16th in a four-mile race at the BYU Autumn Classic, held Sept. 6 in Provo. Alicia placed 28th on the women’s 5K.
Jason, a junior at USU, said he enjoys the rigorous workouts and has learned to get in tune with what his body tells him. He started running at age 12 and has proved to be a natural athlete. Setting the school record in junior high and high school for the fastest mile – and having some district championships underneath him – Jason chose to come and run at USU after serving an LDS mission in the West Indies.
“The environment makes a big difference, and so do the coaches,” Jason said.
Suffering from shin splints his first year back, Jason said he has worked hard at the various routines to have a full comeback this season. He said he is a firm believer that running is way for self improvement both mentally and physically.
Following in her brother’s footsteps, Alicia takes on the same belief.
“Running is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical,” she said.
Alicia said she would describe the training as being a lot harder than everyone thinks it is. She said increasing a runner’s time will have a great impact on increasing the team’s time.
To accomplish this, she said the runners go through a rigorous training cycle six times a week, averaging 60 to 70 miles with interval and pace days. Interval days push the runner and increase endurance while pace days help the runner listen more to his or her body and condition.
She said she enjoys being able to use her emotions to motivate herself with her brother by her side.
They said they enjoy various activities ranging from hip hop dancing, mountain biking and anything outdoors.
“We definitely like to be outdoors,” Alicia said. “That’s were all our training began.”
She said her father helped cultivate her love for running.
“He never made us run,” she said. “[He] just gave us tons of encouragement and positive reinforcement.”
Whether in competition or school, this brother and sister tandem help each other out. They said they look forward to the year with high goals and objectives – namely another WAC title for the Aggie men and women.
–c.child@aggiemail.usu.edu