Thomas Cain is a graduate student working on his MBA and a distance runner for the UCA track team. Cain is from Yuma, Arizona, where he ran in high school.
In 2018, he began his collegiate career, placing 8th at the Southland Conference Championships in the 5k with a time of 15:30. He was also a member of the 2018 SLC Cross Country Championship team. Last indoor track season, he placed sixth at the KMS Open and ran a 4:21 in the mile.
Cain maintains focus during meets by reminding himself of his goals.
“Always keep the bigger goals in mind. I really want to go sub-4 in the mile, sub-14 in the 5k and sub-24 in the 8k,” Cain said. “These are big personal goals. It’s good to always know what you’re working for.”
His personal best in those events are 4:13 in the mile, 14:49 in the 5k and 24:53 in the 8k.
After being put out of the season for a while, Cain is ready to come back with a bang in the season and in school.
Cain said, “4.0 [GPA] for sure. Shoot for the stars. Athletically, I just came back. In October, I got diagnosed with mono after one of our races, so I was out for about two months. I’m just starting back and want to have a healthy, full outdoor season.”
Health is of the utmost importance for many student-athletes this semester who are hoping for a successful season amidst the Omicron outbreak.
“It’s unpredictable, really. You just have to be able to roll with the punches. That’s part of what being a student-athlete is all about, or even just being a person — getting hit and getting back up again,” Cain said.
Cain thinks the team will finish the indoor season strong and compete fiercely in the outdoor season as well. “We had kind of a rough winter break. A few of us got COVID, and a few of us had some injuries, but we are coming back strong,” Cain said. “I think the team is looking forward to competing at the ASUN indoor meet. I think we can steal a conference title there and during the outdoor season, too.”
The ASUN Conference Championship will take place February 25th and 26th in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Cain plans to stay in sports after graduation too. “After I complete my master’s, I’m looking into going into a doctorate business program. I want to do something within sports like sports marketing. That would be awesome,” Cain said.
When he is not training or in classes, Cain enjoys reading and playing video games like Fortnite with his friends.
“It’s tough because [classes and training] take up a lot of my time, but I’m a big video game guy. I’ve been playing Fortnite a lot recently. I’ve been working on myself and doing a lot of reading recently,” Cain said.
Cain gave his future self these words of wisdom: “Future Thomas, keep going. Don’t give up. I think a lot of people get ‘senioritis’ or decide to give up early, so just keep dreaming.”