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As athletes from around the country put the finishing touches on their Indoor National Championship preparations, the COVID-19 pandemic was ramping up in earnest. Just before championships were scheduled to begin, the NCAA took the unprecedented step of canceling all spring athletics. Just the like, the season was over. No championships were held. No one got the chance to show themselves on the sport’s biggest stage.

In our next series of episodes, we’ll talk to the athletes who ended their seasons on top of the leaderboard. When Coach Chabot of WPI saw Sydney Packard run at the state meet of her senior  year of HS, he thought he was looking at a well of untapped potential. He was right. Sydney began to improve immediately and steadily. From missing the 800m final indoors her freshman year, she would have stepped on the line in Winston-Salem NC with a 206 PB,  this year’s number one seed. We talked with Sydney about her progression as a runner, what being a well rounded student-athlete means to the chemical engineering major, what it was like to have the season cancelled, and her plans for the future.

If you enjoyed the episode, please like, subscribe, and leave a review. We really appreciate and helps the podcast grow! As always, here’s to the glory days.

You can follow Sydney on Twitter and Instagram - @sydney_packard