MizzouMade Monday | Track & Field's Lauren Flaker
9/10/2018 2:08:00 PM | General
I would not be the same person had I not been a student-athlete at Mizzou - Flaker on her Mizzou experience
Most student athletes are recruited, maybe even receive scholarship offers, and then come to Mizzou knowing they are a student-athlete. Lauren Flaker was not most student-athletes. She took a non-traditional path to racing as a member of Mizzou's Track and Field team. While Flaker was finishing up high school, she was recruited by Mizzou and offered a scholarship to run track. She decided that she was not ready to commit to the pressures of being a student-athlete. She turned down the scholarship in favor of attending Mizzou without running.
When Flaker moved onto campus in the August she knew something was missing from her college experience. She lacked the purpose she always felt in high school. That fall she went to one of Mizzou's cross country races to watch a friend compete.
"That was when I saw everyone on the team—it was like a family," Flaker said.
After seeing the team interact at the race Flaker wanted to be a part of that environment. She talked to the coach and joined the Track and Field team. Flaker said this is the best decision she has ever made.
Flaker started her colligate career by running primarily sprints during the 2010 indoor track season. She set a personal best in the 400m dash – clocking in at 59.29 at the Bill Bergan Invitational. During her first outdoor season, Flaker ran on the 4x100m and the 4x400m relay teams, just barely missing All-Big 12 honors in her first season on the team.
Flaker continued to improve as she went farther in her college career. In 2011, she competed in the long jump, 200m, and the 4x400m relay. Her indoor season began with a new personal-record in the 60m dash. She ran a 7.71 at the MU Collegiate Challenge, and placed first in the event. At the Mizzou-KU Border Dual, she earned her best long jump mark of the season at 5.46m, and placed third overall in the event. Toward the end of her indoor season she once again fell just short of All-Big 12 honors when she placed ninth in the 4x400m relay.
Flaker's 2012 and 2013 outdoor seasons held some of her most notable accomplishments. In 2012, Flaker received All-Big 12 honors for the 4x100m relay with a final time of 46.76.
She kicked off the 2013 season by placing 1st-2nd-3rd in the 4x100m, 100m, and 200m, races respectively at the Missouri Relays.
Flaker's successes as a student athlete are not limited to her race times. She attributes many of her successes on and off the track to the support system of her coaches and teammates that surrounded and uplifted her in all aspects of her time at Mizzou. Flaker said she learned a lot from her unique college experience.
During her junior year, Flaker went to her head coach and asked to receive the scholarship she had turned down before she came to school, when she made the initial decision not to run track. Flaker said that at that point she felt like she had earned it. She outlined all the things she had done for the team, and ultimately her coach gave her the scholarship.
"Earning my scholarship in this way really taught me a lot about fighting for what you deserve and have earned. That was important for me to learn at that point and extends beyond athletics," Flaker said.
The lessons Flaker learned as a student athlete continued to impact her life, even after she had run her final colligate race. Flaker, like all student athletes, participated in the Mizzou Made Program which she said helped to hone a lot of her professional skills. She said that a lot of things learned in the program are things she does not even think about, but it comes naturally when she needs it. Small practical skills that she attributes to this program are things that she uses every day.
The biggest influence of athletics in Flaker's life was the connections she formed through it. She eventually returned to Mizzou and started working for the athletics department. She is a Tiger Scholarship Fund associate, and helps to provide financial aid to student-athletes in attempt to increase the impact that the athletic experience has on their lives. Since being back at her alma mater and working with this program, Flaker started to see the natural bond of student athletes.
Flaker realized that many aspects of this network of student athletes, and of her time at Mizzou, were what led her back to athletics. When she met other Mizzou letterwinners, she realized it connected them in a way that they did not think about before.
"Just by being a student-athlete, and a student-athlete at Mizzou, you have a group of people that will help you and take care of you," Flaker said.
The support system offered by Mizzou Athletics helped Flaker both in and out of college. Her coaches were a support system she went to for athletic, scholastic or personal problems, and she learned valuable life lessons from being a part of a team. For Flaker track was a positive enforcer of confidence and discipline.
"I can't say enough about my athletic experience and how much that shaped me both personally and professionally. I would not be the same person had I not been a student-athlete at Mizzou," Flaker said.
