Track and field’s Avery McMullen (IntPhys, Psych’24) is an All-American in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon. The Tennessee native discusses her shift to track, CU’s tight community of multi-event athletes and staying focused when competing in up to seven events in a meet.
When people say ‘combined events’ or ‘multi-events,’ what does that include?
The indoor pentathlon is the 60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and then the 800 meters. With the outdoor heptathlon, on day one it’s the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and then the 200 meters.Then, the second day is long jump, javelin and the 800 meters. Always in those orders.
There’s a lot of specialization in athletics, whether that’s playing only one sport or choosing distance over sprinting. When did you know that you wanted to compete across multiple track and field events?
I played soccer growing up, and I only started doing track in high school. My club coach saw me at a meet, and he focused on the heptathlon and pentathlon. Most states don’t have combined events in high school, but Tennessee has it at our state meet. So, I did it throughout high school. Many people come into college not knowing that they’ll do the multi, but I’ve always done it.
Why did you decide to come to Colorado?
I went on visits for soccer my sophomore year. But then I decided to continue with track instead of soccer, and I was looking at mostly smaller schools in the South. One of my teammates from high school was coming here, and I was actually on vacation a mile from campus. I emailed CU, and Coach [Lindsey] Malone emailed me back five minutes later. She took my family on a campus tour that day. I went on my official visit that October. Coach Malone focused on multis and always has a big group. Most schools only have one or two multis, and they’ll send you off to different coaches. Here, you’re with one coach.
Can you tell us about your training and how you find time to practice each event?
We never do only one thing at practice. It’s a field event and running, or lifting and running or all three. We do each event at least once a week, but you’ve got to focus because we might not do it again for a week. We do sprint workouts but not a lot of distance.
Do you prefer the pentathlon or heptathlon?
Most people prefer outdoor track, but I like indoor. I don’t like the cold or wind. The pentathlon makes it level for everyone, and I can do all the events in one day.
Do you sometimes compete in individual events outside of the multi?
You can’t do the multi every weekend. Most people do it two to four times per season. Competing in individual events gets you more practice when you’re not doing a multi. It’s hard to get PRs [personal records] in a multi.
Among all the combined events, do you have favorites?
High jump, long jump and hurdles. Even if I’m not doing a multi, I always ask to do those ones.
An event like the 800 requires different strengths than shot put or high jump. How do you maximize your performance across events?
I go all out in every single event. But it is daunting when you’re standing on the line for an 800, and you’re like, ‘I can’t feel my legs, but I’m going to have to run this.’ The 800 is always last. That’s the one I struggle with the most.
Are you competing in each event alongside everyone else or just those doing multis?
Just with the multis. We do every event together. You become good friends with your competitors. I know most of the multis in the Pac-12 because we spend entire days together.
Can you share some advice you’ve received from your CU coaches?
Relax and have fun. When you aren’t putting all that pressure on yourself, you end up doing much better. It’s important to not look at what everyone else is doing because everyone has strengths and weaknesses in the multi. Coach always says to forget about the event you just did, whether it went well or badly. With 20 minutes to the next event, you don’t want to be extra hyped or mad.
Do you have a special memory of a meet?
At Spokane last year, I did a multi and got a 300-point PR. That’s where I got my mark to qualify for Nationals. I was so happy that it all came together because it’s hard not to walk away from a multi thinking I could have done better in an event. Also Indoor Nationals in Birmingham. It’s two hours from Nashville. My whole extended family came, so I had over 50 people watching. We do multis during the day before the other events start. No one was there other than this giant section of my family.
If you have a break from track, what do you like to do?
Track fills up my life, but I do love to go hiking. [Visiting] Rocky Mountain National Park. Seeing mountain towns.
Photo by Glenn Asakawa
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