2 years in the making, Pittis is thankful to be competing once again

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Photo by: Dean Hendrickson

2 years in the making, Pittis is thankful to be competing once again

2/13/2020 2:43:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

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By: Montana Sports Information

The moment that stands out to Brian Schweyen when asked about Emily Pittis is from 2016. She was sitting on a grassy hill inside Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colorado.

Pittis had just concluded her freshman season at Montana, and was disappointed by her performances. The three-time Washington state champion in cross country, who set about every imaginable record while leading Sehome High School to back-to-back team titles, had opportunities to score for the Griz in the 1,5000 meters, but finished 10^th, and had a top-eight seed time in the 5,000 meters, before falling back to 18^th – more than a minute behind her season-best performance.

"I remember seeing her sitting there, just crying after the meet," Schweyen said.

"I went over to her, and the thing that struck me, that was so different from most athletes, is that she didn't care about her individual performance, but she really felt like she let her team down."

Montana entered the final day of the 2016 Championships in first place by a strong margin. Calculating projected points for the final day, Schweyen and his staff felt as if the women were in decent position to win a conference title.

Instead, things went the opposite direction, with Montana earning just 24.5 points on the final day and falling to fifth place. A lot went wrong on that day, a lot more than two races from a freshman.

But Pittis wanted to make sure her career wouldn't be defined by two races that weren't up to the high standard she holds herself to.

She showed that in a big way the following year in the 5,000 meters, placing second out of 33 runners at the 2017 Big Sky Championships. Her time of 16:39.46 was a PR of 11 seconds, and more than 2 full minutes better than where she finished the previous season in Greeley.

Still just a sophomore, Pittis was setting herself – and her team – up for big things over the next several years.

Unfortunately for both her and the Griz, they'd both have to wait a long time for the next opportunity.

A standout on the cross country team, Pittis was Montana's top runner in three of five meets during the fall of 2017, including the Big Sky Championships, where she was an All-Big Sky performer, placing ninth overall and first among Montana runners.

During the NCAA Mountain Regional, though, is when things took a turn.

"I was having my best season yet," Pittis reflected. "I had just ramped up my intensity and was performing better than I ever had before. I had just finished top 10 in conference, but that's when I started to experience a nagging pain in my lower leg. I ran regionals, and it went horribly. A few weeks later, I found out I had a tibial stress fracture."

The injury forced her to miss all of the 2018 indoor and outdoor track seasons, in which she redshirted.

But the pain wouldn't go away.

More rest. More rehab. More tests. It turned out the injury had been misdiagnosed, which led to a full fracture and more missed time. Pittis had to sit out the 2018 cross country season. And the 2019 indoor track season. She missed the 2019 outdoor season, as well.

"I had to fully go back to the basics," Pittis said. "I wasn't doing any running at all. It was an incredibly slow process."

The thought of giving up crossed her mind, without a doubt. There was a lot of pain, and the reward was no longer looking as appetizing. It got worse when the initial injury was misdiagnosed, and then got harder once again when she learned her position coach was leaving.

"I would go in and out of wanting to quit quite often," Pittis said. "It's really been a mental roller coaster."

Pittis even talked with Schweyen prior to this past cross country season about the possibility of medically retiring.

"He told me, 'If you are done it's OK. No one will be upset with you.'"

Emily Pittis, though, isn't a quitter. Not that anyone would have blamed her, after missing nearly two years of her collegiate career, right as she was hitting her peak.

"It was hard, because I felt so discouraged and so out of shape," Pittis said. "I don't like leaving things unfinished, though, so I just wanted to finish, whatever that looked like."

She made her cross country return this past fall, in her home state of Washington.

Nearly two years in the making, she was back. The pain was mostly gone, and she was competing with her teammates, which is what mattered most to her. The results, though, weren't quite there. After placing ninth at the Big Sky Championship in 2017, Pittis was 41^st in 2019. Her times weren't near where she had been pre-injury.

If that's how Pittis' story ended, she would be OK with it. She worked her way back. She was competing with her teammates. She would soon complete a second degree. She was happy.

But last weekend at the Idaho Team Challenge in Moscow, Idaho, Pittis showed that might not be how her story ends.

The redshirt senior made her track debut in January, competing in both the mile and 3,000 meters. She competed again the next weekend, and again two weeks after that. It was that meet that stood out.

Racing against 20 other runners, Pittis placed first in the mile. Her time of 4:56.28 is one she had never before eclipsed, finishing a sub-5-minute mile for the first time. Against 19 other runners in the 3,000 meters, she again finished first. Her time of 9:53.79 narrowly missed another PR, and was a full 35 seconds better than the time she ran three weeks prior, in her first track meet since May 2017.

Pittis currently ranks ninth in the Big Sky in the 3,000 meters and 11^th in the 1 mile. She's again in the mix among some of the top runners in the conference, which begs the question: What's a realistic goal for the indoor championships later this month, and the outdoor meet in May?

Pittis, though, who has been through so many valleys over the past few years, is cautious to get too far ahead of herself.

"I'm hesitant to say too much, but I'm pretty excited about how the last meet felt and how I've been doing in practice," Pittis said. "I'm feeling better than I thought I would. I'm hopeful I can end with PRs, or at least at the level I wanted to be before I got hurt, but mostly I'm just excited to be back."

Q&A with Pittis
When you're competing in multiple events in the same day, how challenging can that be, both mentally and physically?
"You definitely have to mentally deal with it, and then physically trust that your body can do it. The first race, you're giving everything you can, and then you cool down and get some food in you. It helps doing it with a bunch of your teammates who are going through it with you. It sounds more daunting than it actually is. When you're doing it, it is tiring, but you're going to be tired regardless. It's good practice for conference."

What are some of your favorite things about being in Missoula?
"I was definitely drawn to the beautiful environment, which is one of the reasons I came here. I love getting outside. I'm an environmental studies student, so obviously the environment is a big part of what I love. The community, as well. It's a fun place to live and it's a beautiful place to live."

What do you want to do with your degrees once you graduate?
"I'm really interested in sustainable ag, potentially something in that realm, maybe doing some farming myself. I have a business degree, and an environmental studies degree coming, so hopefully I'll have some options."

What do you like to do pregame to get yourself ready for a race?
"I just try to stay relaxed and calm, and not get too nervous. I like to do some weird dance moves. Anything that make the mood more fun and less serious. I used to have music; now I just try to do something that makes people laugh, or makes myself laugh."

What's your favorite memory as a Griz?
"I have so many good memories. My sophomore year when we went to outdoor conference definitely stands out, because that was such a fun experience, and I did really well in the 5K. I was there with so many people I love so much. I remember after the race hugging so many people. It was so hot, and it was a really fun trip. My favorite general memories are going for a track workout in Missoula, and starting with the sun out and then midway through it starts snowing, and then it rains, and then there's sun again and you're looking out at Mount Sentinel and it's just beautiful. It's been just one workout, but you've seen every type of weather."

Montana's track & field team is back this weekend for the Husky Classic in Seattle, Washington. Known as one of the largest and most challenging meets of the year, Montana will be competing against some of the nation's best athletes, including All-Americans and future Olympians.

The approach doesn't change for a meet like this, but head coach Brian Schweyen did acknowledge that what can be taken from it does differ from a standard meet.

"This is definitely an opportunity to see how comfortable you are with unfamiliar faces and a little higher level of competition," Schweyen said. "If you want to be great, and you want to consider yourself a competitor, these are situations you have to be comfortable in. This will be a great opportunity for our athletes to step into the arena and see how they handle it against some of the best in the entire country."

The competition will be steep across the board, but particularly in the distance events, Schweyen predicted.

"When you look at the entries, you'll have three or four heats in most events, and some really, really high-level talent. This is heavily weighted toward the distance events, and I expect there will be come incredible distance times coming from this meet."

Hundreds of athletes have qualified for the two-day meet, which features competitors from some of the nation's top schools from across the United States. Among the notable schools are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Boise State, BYU, California, Colorado, Georgia, Gonzaga, New Mexico, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Portland, Southern Utah, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA, USC, Utah, Utah State, Washington State and Wisconsin.

The meet begins Friday at 3:30 p.m. (MT) with the women's weight throw. The meet extends into Saturday evening. Fans can watch the meet through RunnerSpace, with a subscription, or follow live results online.

Men's 60 meters – Aidan Diggs, Kip Krebsbach
Men's 200 meters – Paul Johnstone, Kip Krebsbach, Callum Macnab, Xavier Melice
Men's 400 meters – Chase Armstrong, Paul Johnstone, Callum Macnab, Xavier Melice, Jethro Thorne
Men's 800 meters – Noah Adams, Jacob Lamb
Men's 1 mile – Andrea Baratte, Quincy Fast
Men's 3,000 meters – Will Dauenhauer, Hunter May, Ben Vanderbosch
Men's 60-meter hurdles – Chase Armstrong, Aidan Diggs, Jaydon Green
Men's 4x400-meter relay – Callum Macnab, Jacob Lamb, Paul Johnstone, Xavier Melice
Men's high jump – Josh Riley, Jordan Stow
Men's long jump – Aidan Diggs, Josh Riley, Jordan Stow, Jethro Thorne
Men's shot put – Shawn Humphries, Noah Ramirez, Brent Yeakey
Men's weight throw – Noah Ramirez, Shawn Humphries

Women's 60 meters – Olivia Ellis, Emma Normand
Women's 200 meters – Jaree Mane
Women's 400 meters – Olivia Ellis
Women's 800 meters – Carly Smiedala
Women's 1 mile – June Eastwood
Women's 3,000 meters – Samantha Engebretsen, Beatrix Frissell, Emily Pittis
Women's 60-meter hurdles – Hannah Coburn, Olivia Ellis, Jaree Mane
Women's high jump – Jane Booth, Abby Dodge, Morgan Radtke
Men's pole vault – Kahsiah Benson, Grace Slevin, Aly Tekippe
Women's long jump – Hannah Coburn
Women's triple jump – Rachel Lewis, Morgan Radtke
Women's shot put – Mariah Harvey, Holly Houston
Women's weight throw – Mariah Harvey