The piercing winter wind freezes the sweat on her T-shirt and burns in her ears. She pushes on for hours, the echo of her feet against the pavement creating a rhythmic beat that reverberates through the dense morning fog.
The same chilled air cuts through his sweatshirt as he walks out of the Aquatic Fitness Center toward O-Hill dining hall, exhausted after swimming miles of laps in the pool.
These two individuals are related in more than one way. They're training for one of the greatest honors any athlete could ever hope for -- the Olympics. They are further united in their past or current attendance at one of the nation's most prestigious public universities.
They have dealt with the tasks of balancing school, work and training. And somewhere in their schedules, they have found the time to simply relax.
Dawn Cleary, a 2002 College graduate with a bachelor's degree in sociology, is currently an assistant coach with the women's track and field team. At 23 she is training for the biggest athletic competition of her life -- the 3,000-meter steeplechase. But she must wait. She won't get the chance to race until the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because the steeplechase will not be an official event until then.
Before dreams of the Olympics were on her mind, Cleary saw success as a distance runner for the University. She won the ACC title in the steeplechase in 2003, becoming the first American ACC athlete to break 10 minutes in the event. Cleary was then ranked in the top 10 in the United States for both 2002 and 2003.
"In my fifth year, when I was still racing with U.Va. and going to graduate school, I was contemplating whether to continue running or not after finishing school," Cleary said. "But I wanted to get as far as I could with the steeplechase."
Running 70 to 75 miles a week, Cleary trains on her own while also helping with the University's women's track team.
"It's really motivating to train with the team here," she said. "I enjoy coaching the girls, and I usually run every day with them. They help me too."
Cleary plans to race in the USA Cross Country National Championship Feb. 8th. Afterward, she'll continue to prepare for the Olympic trials that will be held in Sacramento, CA this summer July 9 to 18.
She's currently ranked 5th in the nation and 31st in the world in her event, according to recent rankings put out by Track and Field News magazine.
Despite her impressive achievements, Cleary is not the only Olympic-bound athlete at the University.
From Split, Croatia, first-year College student Vanja Roguli swam in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney at the age of 18. Roguli will return to compete for his home country this summer at the Olympics in Athens, Greece.
"Experiencing the atmosphere at Sydney Olympics gave me the courage and strength to train even harder and set up harder goals," he said. "When you are as young as I was in Sydney, you try to subordinate everything to the next Olympics, and that is all you dream about. I just try to live my dreams."
In Sydney, Roguli placed 30th in the 100-meter breaststroke and 13th in the 400-meter medley relay.
"Not showing my best performance is one more reason I want to prove that I'm not just another average swimmer," Roguli said.
With modesty and humility, Roguli fails to mention that he is the Croatian national champion in the 100-meter breaststroke. He also is ranked 12th in the world in the 50-meter breaststroke and 36th in the 100 breast.
Roguli continues his training at the University, swimming with the men's varsity team.
One of Roguli's teammates, first-year College student Chase Emanuel, said he is impressed by Roguli's performance.
"Vanja is a quiet leader," Emanuel said. "He's humble in practice, but when he steps up on the blocks for a race, he really lets his actions do the talking."
Roguli said he enjoys training with the University team.
"Training with the team is one of the most exciting experiences for me so far in the U.S.," he said. "The team bond and the spirit that surrounds us is so intense that you have to excel with ease."
Training for the Olympics while keeping up with studies at a college as demanding as the University is a challenging feat in and of itself. Roguli also has dealt with adjusting to a new country.
"I have spent a great deal of time getting used to new surroundings, language, friends and training," he said. "I can definitely say that I have been training a lot harder than I was used to at home."
His training includes 10 swimming, two weight lifting and two dry-land practices a week.
"The Athens Olympics are the most important event for me in this year, and accordingly both coach Mark Bernardino and I set up my work program," he said. "The extenuating circumstance is that I have an Olympic gold medalist, Ed Moses, swimming in the lane next to mine. It is great to race him and feel the improvement in almost every practice."
Fourth-year Education student Ed Moses happens to be another Olympian from the University who volunteer coaches with the swim team. Moses represented the United States in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney where he won a gold medal on the U.S.A.'s world record setting 400 medley relay and a silver medal in the 100 breaststroke. His coaches said he will be competing in the Olympic trials in July in hopes of securing a spot in Athens.
These athletes join the ranks of numerous other Cavaliers who have competed at the Olympic level. University Olympians include Dawn Staley, ('92) a gold medalist in basketball; Paul Ereng, ('93) a gold medalist in track and field; Lea Ann Parsley, ('92) a silver medalist in the skeleton race; and Melanie Valerio, ('91) a gold medalist in the 400-meter freestyle relay.
Roguli and Cleary hope to join these former University students with Olympic wins in the upcomng games.
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