CU track couple stay in their lane with family and school

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KUSA - Sara Vaughn didn't transfer to CU three years ago to start a family. But after the unexpected happened, that's exactly what she found herself doing.

"It was sort of against the odds that I got pregnant, so it was very surprising," says the middle distance track standout. "But, once we found out, it was just like: OK, how are we going to make this work?"

Sara met distance runner Brent Vaughn during her initial visit to CU in March of 2005 and started dating him shortly after. In September of 2006, Ciara was born and the two slowed down enough to revamp their schedules, while at the same time keeping their studies and athletic careers on the fast track.

"It was definitely a change adjusting at first," says Brent. "Our coaches have helped a lot. Sarah's coach Jay Johnson allows her to practice earlier and that's basically the only time during the day when we need a baby-sitter is our practices overlap a little bit every day."

"We do opposite class schedules, so one of us is always with her which is really great," adds Sara. "It's better than either one of us having a full time job because she gets to spend a lot of time with each of us individually."

Balancing a marriage, family, running and school isn't easy for the 23 and 24 year old. However, considering Sara and Brent have been on the Commissioner's honor roll at CU multiple times, they must have figured something out.

"I've always been pretty focused on school and running but this provides great balance for us," says Sara. "We come home after a bad workout and you just kind of have to forget about it because it's time to do other things with her. Some people might see that as a disadvantage of having all these other responsibilities, but i think it's been a good advantage for me."

Plus, it doesn't hurt that Ciara has no problem fitting in with the running community.

"She's around a lot of our teammates," says Brent, "They come over to hang out and they all want to see her. She has 20 aunts and uncles and she has had to get used to being around a lot of people. She definitely likes to entertain the crowd."

"She doesn't even flinch when the starting gun goes off," Sara adds pointing to some bleachers. "We were here in these bleachers and the starter said 'You might want to move.' I said 'She's been to more track meets that you have, she's fine'."

Sara and Brent are both on full scholarship and also receive grants from the CU that help with childcare. Both runners are quick to add, however, that they are very frugal with what they get and don't take advantage of anything they receive.

This past winter, Sara set a new school record in the indoor mile. In early May, Brent set a new school record for the 5,000-meter run. Perhaps chasing around a 19 month old had a little something to do with the faster runs?

To follow the CU Track and Field team through NCAA Regionals, visit: www.cubuffs.com