While Syracuse sprinters, jumpers, throwers and distance runners were hard at work this week on the Vielbig Outdoor Track, so was another athlete. With a bandana on her head, like a modern-day Cinderella, she does her sprint intervals but can’t put the effort to use in competitions.

Veronica Dyer, a volunteer coach at SU, works out by herself every day before helping the team, five years removed from an accomplished career as a hurdler for Syracuse.

The current members of the Syracuse track and field team will compete this weekend at the New York Relays on Randall’s Island. The Orange has two weeks of practice remaining before the Big East Championships starting May 6.

Dyer, though, turns 28 next week, but could pass for a college undergraduate. She spent three years after her senior year as a graduate student and graduate assistant for track, earning her degree in exercise science. Dyer chose to stay in Syracuse, squeezing her workouts and coaching between morning and night shifts at Personal Fitness Programs at 205 S. Salina St.

‘I had no intention of going to grad school,’ Dyer said. ‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I’m comfortable here and I basically told myself unless I got a great job offer, I wasn’t going to pick up and keep moving. If I didn’t like it, I would have left a long time ago.’

Dyer was only .24 seconds away from a professional track career. A Toronto native, Dyer competed in the 2000 Olympic trials in Canada after a successful summer of racing. In Canada, athletes’ times qualify them on an A or B standard. The A standard qualifies them for the Olympics, and the top two finishers in the 100-meter hurdles would automatically qualify for the Sydney Games regardless of time.

Dyer had already reached the B standard in July and had a month of training left before the trials. Dyer lost to a girl who she had routinely beaten throughout the summer circuit, missing her chance to represent her country in Australia.

Dyer said she couldn’t watch much of the Olympics because she knew how close she was to actually being there. She watched her Syracuse teammate, Adrian Woodley, but avoided most of the coverage. She wasn’t mad at herself, though.

‘It was my first medal at a national championship,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t disappointed in myself walking off the track. Everything happens for a reason.’

Dyer kept training and racing but a strained hip flexor never healed and she couldn’t finish her race at the 2004 trials. She hasn’t competed since, but still trains by herself before her apprentices are ready to run. Dyer’s goal is to compete for the 2005-2006 indoor season and take it from there. Meanwhile, she’s working on a final research project for her studies, comparing athletes’ training results in the preseason to those during the season. She uses the SU facilities for free, not quite letting go of her dream.

‘I’m at the point where I’m OK with it if I’ve run my last race,’ Dyer said. ‘But seeing these guys out here every day, especially people who take it for granted; I do miss that aspect of just being a student-athlete. I don’t have any regrets but I’m not shutting the door completely yet.’

Published on April 21, 2005 at 12:00 pm