Isaac Teague didn’t have to run too far when he got the chance to run cross country at the collegiate level. A Fort Smith native who went to Southside High School, Teague signed with UAFS, and is now a senior in his fourth and final season.
And without a doubt, Teague takes a great deal of pride in running for his hometown school.
“Any way that I could boost Fort Smith and show them that we’re still on the map and that we can keep working hard and do what we need to do,” he said. “Personally, Fort Smith was really the place for me; it had what I wanted to achieve academically for a good price. My family’s been from Arkansas, and this is where I’m from. This is my home and no better place to to go than the hometown school that works best.”
However, it hasn’t been smooth at times, as Teague has had to deal with several injuries, including a major one during his sophomore year. Still, he has persevered, and even was able to set a personal best time in an 8K course earlier this season. That personal best time was 27:23 in a recent meet held at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. Teague’s previous record was 27:48 as a sophomore, which was set at a meet in Huntsville, Ala.
But after his sophomore season ended, Teague was dealt a severe injury blow.
“The Christmas of my sophomore year, I stepped on a branch while running and I tore three ligaments in my ankle just about completely through,” Teague said. “And yeah, that really set me back. Significantly, it took me quite a while to, you know, just learn how to lock and run again and all that, starting from the very, very bottom. It’s a quite a while, but hey, I mean, it worked out. It paid off.”
Teague was able to recover in time for his junior season, and even set a personal best 10K time of 36:44.7 at the NCAA Division II Central Regional. But he was still feeling the after-effects of the injury, and was finally able to be fully healthy for his senior year, culminating with his personal best 8K at the recent meet in Joplin, breaking the record he set two years ago.
“It was great; it felt really good,” Teague said. “Like I said, I had had a pretty monumental injury in between them, and it took me quite over a year to recover from that, so it felt really good to just be out there and be able to race again and be able to place well with the team.”
The key to Teague’s approach when out on the course is rooted in one word.
“Absolutely, it’s consistency and making sure not to get down mentally and keep working forward, and remember that every single year and every day is a different day and you gotta start with what you got,” he said. “Keep moving forward.”
Teague started running cross country while attending Ramsey Junior High in Fort Smith before going on to Southside, where he competed in cross country and track until he graduated in 2022.
Before his career at UAFS ends, Teague wants to run under 27 minutes in a future 8K, among other goals.
“I would like to make it to conference and regionals because if I do that, I will have done that all four years here, so that will be pretty impressive to me,” Teague said.
“My senior year, I would like to keep on pushing and see how low I could get that number down. I would like to go sub 27, but also make sure that I am academically sound and I finish my academic and running career to the best of my ability.”