Geneva graduate Shymske adusting to running, academics at Edinboro
· Yahoo Sports
Making the transition from high school to collegiate athletics can be a daunting task.
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For Donnie Shymske, that meant going from Geneva to Edinboro.
“It wasn’t super-hard transition,” he said. “It was definitely an adjustment with a longer season than I’m typically use to.”
Shymske’s season started in the fall with the cross country, then it was on to indoor track, and outdoor track closed out his 2025-26 season.
“My first year was pretty much what I expected,” he said. “I am very grateful to have such great teammates and coaches to help push me to be the best I could be.”
In the outdoor season, Shymske placed fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.26 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
“Earlier in the year at a meet in Bucknell, I PR’d [a personal record] in both the 800 [1:53.96] and mile [4:21.25],” he said. “The spring season went well. I learned a lot from a racing standpoint, and had improvements throughout the year.”
In the fall, Shymske placed 32nd with a time of 20:47.7 in the Doug Watts Invitational at Edinboro.
“Having my first collegiate race in Edinboro with my family in attendance was special,” he said.
In the indoor season, Shymske finished third in the PSAC Championships, running a 1:55.53 800 race.
He also turned in a PSAC-qualifying time of 1:55.67 in the 800 race at Youngstown State.
The experiences weren’t strictly in athletics, either.
“I learned from the classroom and running how much of a blessing failure can be,” Shymske said. “From underperforming in a race or on a test, it gives you a great learning opportunity to find mistakes you made and fix them to come back even stronger and more determined to improve.”
Shymske said he’s already looking forward to his sophomore campaign at Edinboro.
“I feel I need to work on my confidence more,” he said. “At times during the season, in races, I was hesitant when making moves,” he said. “The experience of having these races under my belt will hopefully build more confidence in racing will give me the ability to run faster times and place better in races.”
Shymske said his training is different this year.
“Last season, my summer training was a lot more conservative because it was my first year of running full-time,” he said. “This summer, my mileage is up a lot more comparatively to last summer. Hopefully, this will allow me to make a bigger impact for the cross country season.”
Shymske said the best part of competing for Edinboro is the pride that comes with running for the Scots.
“They have had a long history of success in cross country and track,” he said. “And my teammates and I hope to replicate that, so that gives us all the motivation in the world. And having a great group of teammates and coaches is a blessing and makes me proud to run for Edinboro.”