Former Gamecock Ryan McKay to run for Eastern

Graduate student Ryan McKay will don blue and white running for Eastern's distance team. Last season, McKay ran for Jacksonville State, an Ohio Valley Conference member. (Robbie Wroblewski | Daily Eastern News)

It was only a little more than a year ago when Ryan McKay crossed the finish line in third place in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships sporting his red and white Gamecocks uniform. Now McKay, a graduate student at Eastern, will be switching to the blue and white Panther uniform for his first official collegiate track meet this January. 

McKay's former school, Jacksonville State, did not have a men's track program in order for them to be in compliance with Title IX regulations. 

"That was kind of frustrating because there was interest and we could have had a pretty decent men's track team," McKay said. "I didn't understand because it wasn't like they had to provide us with scholarships or anything, they just had to allow us to compete."

Jacksonville State has a women's track team but not one for the men, so McKay's coach would allow the guys that wanted to go to meets to run, but they were not allowed to score for a team, compete at conference championships, qualify for regionals or nationals. 

"It was more about training because we couldn't score as an official member of a team or anything, some meets we couldn't even claim prizes or medals, which was kind of a bummer," McKay said. 

McKay said he loves that there are so many people on the team at Eastern. At Jacksonville State there were only eight men on the cross country team his senior year which is a big difference from the 20 men on Eastern's cross-country roster and even more that run distance in track. 

"It is a great environment," McKay said. "There are just a lot of people pushing each other and that is something that drew me to Eastern. That and knowing about Eastern's tradition of winning and the other connections I had with the team."

Since Jacksonville State is in the Ohio Valley Conference with Eastern, McKay was no stranger to the Panthers program. More of his familiarity with Eastern came from his long-time friend, junior distance runner David Holm.

Holm and McKay had known each other since the seventh grade when they were on the same club track team in Calgary, Alberta in Western Canada. 

Holm's father was the coach of the team and McKay said the Holm's had a big impact on his running career. 

"Dave's dad is very nice and knowledgeable and he helped me out a lot," McKay said. "And Dave was a sprinter at first, but over the course of a few years he was running longer distances and became a great training partner for me. We helped to push each other."

Last year after going to Chicago for spring break, McKay stopped by Charleston to visit Holm. The two went for a run together and were just talking and McKay said something about getting his masters degree. That's when Holm had an idea. 

"I knew he had one year of eligibility left and I was like, 'Hey, why not see if you can come and run here at Eastern,'" Holm said. "I told him I would talk to coach Akers and I did and Akers said he was very interested."

Distance coach Geoff Masanet said McKay has added a lot to Eastern's distance program already. 

"He has brought so much to our team in his short time here already, in attitude and expectations for himself and for our team," Masanet said. "He adds excitement, depth and talent."

Masanet said McKay is a driven individual with high expectations of making it to nationals, not only for himself but for others on the team as well. 

"His determination is amazing and it is something that we could all use an extra shot of sometimes," Masanet said. 

McKay said he has had great experiences training at Eastern so far and is excited to get to put on his blue and white uniform and compete. 

"I like blue," McKay said. "I am really looking forward to throwing that jersey on and seeing what I can do."


Brandy Provaznik can be reached at 581-7944 or at bfprovaznik@eiu.edu.