McCandless cooking up a storm for opposition

She has had one of the most successful years a runner has ever had and is considered one of… She has had one of the most successful years a runner has ever had and is considered one of the greatest track and field athletes in Pitt history. Yet, while Maureen McCandless enjoys serving up competition on the track, she also relishes serving healthy dishes at home.

After three above average years, the senior from Nazareth Academy in Bensalem, Pa., took the cross country and track and field worlds by storm this year, accomplishing almost all of her personal and team goals for this season.

Her cross country achievements this year include winning the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship, being named the Mid-Atlantic District Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year, and a fifth-place finish at the NCAA cross country championships, earning her All-American honors.

McCandless then focused on track and field. Her track accomplishments consist of setting numerous personal, Pitt and Big East records. She owned the nation’s best time in the 5,000 meters by almost 30 seconds, and the world’s third-best time. At the Big East Championships in Syracuse, N.Y., McCandless won her first two individual Big East titles in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events. She was also named the Most Outstanding Track Performer of the championships for her efforts. More significant to her, however, was that she was able to help the Pitt women win the team championship.

“That was my goal all along, to win a Big East team championship,” McCandless said. “It was such a great experience to win both individual and team events.”

Lastly, just prior to the NCAA championships in which she suffered a hip injury, the United States Track Coaches Association named her the Mid-Atlantic Regional Women’s Athlete of the Year.

She is not just a runner, though. Though free time is hard to come by with her schedule, she enjoys playing “chef” for herself and her friends, always looking for new and healthy dishes in which to serve.

“I enjoy cooking, it’s relaxing,” McCandless said.

Aside form her culinary talents, she calls upon her artistic side to also help take her mind off of running.

“For a while now, I have kept a little scrapbook of artwork. It is something I like working on in my free time.”

McCandless is also an avid arts and crafts fan. Unlike most students, though, she lacks the luxury of time required to employ her talents. Her scrapbook enables her to make use of them on her own time, when it is available. Besides cooking and arts and crafts, she also has a few active hobbies.

“Running takes up almost all of my time, but if I’m not running, I like doing other things like playing softball, catching Frisbee or swimming. Because of all of the training and traveling we do, when I am home I like to just relax and hang out with my friends and at least try to be a normal college student,” she said.

Her recent hip injury will severely limit what she can do in workouts over the next month and a half. While she still plans on attending team meetings and certain training sessions, she will not travel with the team. When asked what she will do with her newfound time, she replied:

“I would like to go home more and visit family and friends. Because of year-round training, I have not been home much in the last couple of years. I am a workaholic, so in my free time, I am going to enjoy being a bum and doing nothing.”

McCandless is a senior marketing major and plans on attending graduate school at Pitt in exercise physiology. When her running career is over, she can see herself coaching at the collegiate level or utilizing her college degrees by running a small business. Unfortunately for the rest of the Big East, however, she still has some eligibility left. Prior to sustaining the injury, she had already spoken to head coach Alonzo Webb about red-shirting the outdoor track season. Sitting the season out gives McCandless a full year of indoor and outdoor track eligibility for next year, but no more cross country eligibility.

When her eligibility is up, McCandless plans on joining a post-collegiate training group out west. These groups are made up of the highest caliber collegiate runners and are a full-time commitment. By joining a running group, she would be training with people on equal level with her abilities. This group would help prepare her for her ultimate goal, to earn a spot on the United States’ Olympic track team.

Until she runs for team USA in Beijing in 2008, or until she becomes the next “Iron Chef” master (whichever comes first), McCandless will be cooking up trouble for opposing teams until her time at Pitt is done.