Fast-Women.com: Was qualifying for and competing at Nationals something you focused on all season?
Ramsey Kavan: Yeah, this was my goal for the entire season. I wanted to qualify for Foot Locker Nationals and do well; I wanted to run with the best, so I kind of worked towards that the entire year.

FW: You must feel really good about it now.
RK: Yeah! I'm really happy with my finish. More than anything, though, it makes me about the future, looking forward to what might happen next year...

FW: Do you have a lot of competition to run against in South Dakota?
RK: There are quite a few good runners in South Dakota, but not a huge amount of competition. My teammates would probably be my biggest competition (laughs).

FW: Do you have a really good team?
RK: We have a pretty good team, we won state this year for South Dakota.

FW: How close (behind you) were your second and third runners?
RK: They were about 30-40 seconds back, something like that.

FW: Is this your first national competition?
RK: Yeah. This is the first time I've competed nationally with this kind of competition...

FW: Have you competed out of state much?
RK: We compete with Nebraska little bit, with Iowa schools a little bit, some Minnesota schools, but we don't really travel out of our state much. This is the only time where I actually get a chance to compete against everyone in the Midwest, against some different competition.

FW: Were you encouraged by your Midwest Regional finish?
RK: Yes, I was really happy with my Regional finish. I don't think I could have run any better there. It made me confident for this race here.

FW: How did this race unfold for you today?
RK: The first mile was a bit fast, faster than we went at the Regional. The hills were kind of tough, but I just tried to run as fast as I could on the uphill and straightaways, and they kind of pulled away from me a little bit on the downhills, which is something I think I need to work on. Other than that, I think I just tried to run the best I could and run the way I know how. I guess it worked out...

FW: Do you know what place you were in throughout the race? Did you move up?
RK: Yeah, I moved up. I was in 10th, I believe, in the last half mile and I believe I passed about four people.

FW: What did you think of the course, compared to the ones you run at home?
RK: Well, I have some pretty hard courses back at home too, so this wasn't as bad as I would have imagined, but it wasn't the easiest course.

FW: How long have you been a runner?
RK: I've been running for about three years, since my eighth-grade year.

FW: Did you try any other sports first?
RK: I just did basketball a little bit... My friend kind of got me into running. I just decided to go out for cross country and it's all history from there.

FW: Were you immediately pretty good?
RK: I immediately liked it. I wouldn't say that I was really good right away, but I was better than average.

FW: Have you always been number one on your team?
RK: No, I had quite a few girls in front of me for quite a while, but I just kept on making new goals and achieving them, until I got to where I am today.

FW: What kind of training do you do? Are you a high-mileage or low-mileage runner...
RK: I'd say medium... I'd say I average about 50 to 60 miles a week.

FW: Throughout the whole season?
RK: Well, we start off at about 40 miles a week and then we work our way up to about 60. We don't taper much, so it's pretty much an average of 50.

FW: Will you do indoor and outdoor track now?
RK: I might do a couple indoor meets, if they're local and I can get there easily. But I probably won't race again (on a large-scale) until outdoor track season.

FW: Do you think you'll try to make it to some more national meets now?
RK: Oh yeah, definitely. I'm hooked, I think, so I'm ready to compete in track against these girls, I'm excited for it.

FW: Have you made a lot of good social connections here?
RK: Oh yeah, it's great. It's great just to be around so many people who have the same hobbies and same interests... It's great to meet all these people, they're so special.

FW: Is there anyone in particular who you'll make sure to keep in touch with?
RK: I think I'd love to keep in touch with all of them, but I've really enjoyed hanging out with the Midwest team, we get along pretty well...

FW: One last question. We've noticed in several photos that you're wearing a T-shirt that says, 'The Female Running Studs.' What's that about?
RK: (Laughs) That's a T-shirt that [my teammates and I] made up this year for our state meet. We just thought that it was a clever little saying, so we decided to put it on our T-shirt.

FW: Does it say anything on the back?
RK: It says, 'A different breed of girls,' on the back.

FW: Very cool...