She may look quiet and unassuming, but Andrea Seccafien is a self-proclaimed feisty jock. The youngest and only girl of three children, the sophomore distance runner says she is the only one in her family who has excelled in sports.As a freshman last year, Seccafien was one of Samford's top three runners, landing in the top ten of half of the Bulldogs' cross country meets last season. She capped off 2008 with a sixth-place finish at Samford's first appearance in the Southern Conference Championships, earning her the title of Freshman of the Year. She became the second Bulldog to win the rookie award in two years, as Hillary Neal won the award in the Ohio Valley Conference the previous year.
Winning the award came as no surprise to the Canadian-born distance specialist. "Starting out the season, it was my goal from the get-go," Seccafien said. "I wanted to just follow in Hillary Neal's footsteps. I knew that it would be a challenge, but I was determined."
Having raced most of her competition just two weeks prior to the conference meet in an event hosted by Furman, Seccafien knew what she was up against. In fact, she was out for revenge.
"We had raced Furman and they had a pretty good freshman and she beat me at their meet," Seccafien said. "So I was kind of worried, but I knew I could do better. We weren't favored to win at all, but we just put it together and came in second." Seccafien knows a thing or two about not being favored to win. In fact, her most memorable moment so far in her athletic career was in high school when she beat the odds to win an important race.
"Grade nine," Seccafien recalled. "It was the preliminary meet, so it was the qualifier for provincials. I was running the 3K, and I was not favored to win at all and I did. With probably three laps to go, I led, and it was like this gutsy move. I qualified for provincials for the first time which was really exciting, and I made a personal record. That was my first really good race."
Andrea Seccafien was named the SoCon's Freshman of the Year in 2008.
The Guelph, Ontario native's philosophy on beating the odds is to "just ignore statistics and just go out and do what you're supposed to do."
Seccafien likes a good challenge. She said that is what drew her into running.
"I like it because it is challenging and because it is not like every other sport," Seccafien said. "Sometimes, in whatever team sport, you can rely on your teammates, but in this you can't. It's all about yourself and you are just out there alone, really. It's an honest sport."
After being cut from the travel soccer team in seventh grade, Seccafien started running. She would run for half an hour every day. She ran elementary and high school track, and one day the city coach saw her potential and recruited her to run on the club team.
Word spread about Seccafien's talent to the Samford coaching staff through a friend who used to run with Seccafien. After a visit to Samford and a hard decision of choosing from the number of schools recruiting her, she chose to become a Bulldog.
After the initial culture shock of all things Southern, Seccafien settled back into her usual hobbies of going to concerts, writing and "fumbling around with the guitar."
Seccafien's dream is to work for the United Nations one day. An international relations major, she wants to go into law. She said she has always wanted to do something "worldly", and didn't even know there was such a major until she arrived at Samford. She said she kind of fell into the major by accident.
"I took an Into to Political Science course and [international relations] was one of the strands we looked at and I really liked it," Seccafien said. "We were reading Blood Diamond and I just really enjoyed what we were doing. I've always really enjoyed global issues and looking into things like that and that's kind of what I want to dedicate my life to."
Seccafien and the Samford women are off to a great start in this 2009 season. After leading her team to a win at the Memphis Twilight on Sept. 5 with her fourth place finish, Seccafien joins her teammates in preparing for the Southern Conference Championships on Oct. 31. Finishing second last year left a bad taste in the Bulldogs' mouths and the Samford women are thirsty for a victory this year.
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