Alumni in Action: Eagle Valley legend wraps up collegiate cross-country career

When talking about former Eagle Valley legend Joslin Blair, former Vail Daily writer Chris Freud wrote in 2020, “If track athletes had assigned numbers, Joslin’s would be automatically retired.”

Even with her senior track season canceled because of the pandemic, Blair accumulated eight state-championship medals, including a 4A title in the 2018 1600-meter run. She set three school records during her tenure and boasted prep bests of 17 minutes, 17.2 seconds in the 5K (cross-country) and 4:53.19 in the mile.

Lowering the latter personal best — though only by incremental amounts — was a symbolic victory for a runner who has persevered with patience throughout her NCAA DI career.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs since leaving Eagle Valley High School,” stated the Vanderbilt University senior in an email on Wednesday. Blair said she struggled coming back from injury issues during her first two years on campus.

“The thing that I am most proud of is the progress I’ve made after injury,” she continued when asked to reflect on her four years in Nashville, Tennessee.

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“The mile in particular was one of my favorite races in high school, so I was so excited to finally (set a personal record) in it after having been hurt for so long … After getting in some more consistent training, I have been a lot happier with my trajectory since.”

Blair competed in her final Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships on Oct. 27, placing 79th in a 6K-personal best of 21:57.4.

“I was excited about our team’s result at SEC’s!” she stated regarding the Commodores’ sixth-place team finish. National No. 6-ranked Florida, led by individual champion Parker Valby — the favorite to win the NCAA title on Nov. 18 — took the win as No. 11 Arkansas came in second.

“We placed better than we did last year and worked together as a team really well during the race.”

Blair competed in three cross-country races as a freshman, placing 110th at the SEC championships. She didn’t see any action on the track that year. As a sophomore, she set a personal best in the 3,000 (9:55.95) and during her junior season posted the sixth-fastest 1,000-meter run in school history (2:51.69).

“While there have still been some bumps as far as other slight injury problems, I have grown a lot the past few years as an athlete,” Blair noted. “I’ve been really lucky to be surrounded by some amazing teammates that have helped me along the way and made the journey so much better.”

Blair will race what is likely to be her last cross-country event ever when the Commodores travel to Gainesville for the South Region championship on Nov. 10. The top two teams from each of the nine NCAA DI regions automatically qualify for the NCAA championship meet, along with 13 additional at-large selections and 38 individuals. Vanderbilt is currently ranked No. 8 in the South Region.

“Our goal for regionals is to showcase all the progress we’ve made as a group and to push each other to our best,” Blair said.

In her last track season this spring, Blair hopes to lower her steeplechase personal best; she’s currently ranked eighth (10:51.0) on the Vanderbilt all-time list. After graduation, the double major in medicine, health and society and psychology plans to attend medical school. Athletically, she said she’d like to get into trail running down the road.

“I could see myself getting into longer races like marathons as well,” said the 2019 and 2020 high school trail national champion.

Reflecting on her collegiate career, Blair said the theme could be captured by one word: perseverance.

“There have been many aspects of running and academics that didn’t go the way I thought they would,” she said. “But I gained so much more through my experiences by sticking with the things I was passionate about.”

Liv Moritz wraps up stellar soccer freshman season at DU

Former VMS star Liv Moritz concluded her stellar freshman soccer season at the University of Denver by claiming the Summit League Newcomer of the Year award. Moritz, who also plans to ski for the Pioneers this winter (and is a member of the U.S. Ski Team), started all eight Summit League matches for Denver this fall. She led the team in shots on goal and finished the regular season tied for second in the Summit League in points (18) and fourth in goals (7).

After scoring three goals, including two game-winners during DU’s shutout wins over Colgate and Oregon in September, Moritz earned the Summit League Offensive Peak Performer of the Week. She was also named to the Top Drawer Women’s Soccer Top-100 Freshman midseason team as she was ranked No. 34 last week.

The Pioneers earned the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament, but fell to No. 4 Omaha in a semifinal shootout.