After graduating from Uniontown High School, Julie Gerber decided to attend Waynesburg University to study nursing and to compete in cross country and track & field. But before stepping foot on campus, she was nervous she had made the wrong decision.

“I did question myself coming here to Waynesburg, like ‘did I make the right decision?’” Gerber said.

Since coaches are not allowed to work with athletes during the summer, Gerber received her summer workout. It was up to her, as for the other athletes, to complete their workouts on their own so they would arrive to campus in August ready for the season.

But when Gerber started looking over her workout, she was not impressed. Her workouts at Uniontown were harder than the ones she would be doing at Waynesburg.

Upon arriving on campus, she felt welcomed into the cross country family right away. But she was still nervous that the training program she was on would not be able to propel her to the level of competition she had wanted.

Gerber stuck it out and went on to compete in track & field as well, where she said then-head-coach Jason Falvo did a great job making her confident she had made the right choice in coming to Waynesburg.

But early into her sophomore year, she was still not performing how she imagined she would.

“Sophomore year, I kind of hit a slump, I wasn’t really seeing improvements in time,” Gerber said.

She reached out to head coach Chris Hardie, and eventually met with Hardie and assistant coach Michelle Cross about her thoughts.

After the meeting, an individualized plan was made for the remainder of the season. It worked rather well, well enough to take Gerber to the 2015 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships in Winneconne, Wisconsin – the first national qualifier in program history. From then on, Gerber did not look back on her decision to attend Waynesburg University.

Gerber, who later said she was not focused on her placement but rather enjoying the experience, finished in 114th in the field of 280 competitors.

Hardie looks back on the season as a very memorable one.

“It was a pretty magical year…Towards the end of that season I was like ‘She is running at the highest level that I think I have ever seen,’” Hardie said. “It was just magical how it all came together.”

Although Gerber had goals of reaching the D3 National Championships again as a junior and senior, injuries kept her from doing so. With injuries limiting her performance, her role changed.

According to Hardie, Gerber’s role as a team captain was shown even though she was not the team’s top runner. He said she did whatever was necessary for the team by helping time and pace a teammate or ran well enough to help the team’s score. Hardie said she embraced every moment of the supporting role.

“I have never seen growth from an athlete from a character perspective that I did in Julie, not that it wasn’t good when she got here, she just became a rock for the women’s team the last two years,” Hardie said.

Gerber finished her career as one of the best runners in program history. She was the first male or female in program history to qualify for the DIII national meet, leading the way for her teammates Emily and Katie Latimer, who qualified for the National meet during their senior year.

Although injuries stopped her short of her goal – to return to nationals and to be an All-American – she learned a lot from them.

“Through the injuries, it’s taught me a lot about resiliency and bouncing back from all of those things that happened – even though they weren’t in the plan,” Gerber said.

Gerber will take the NCLEX test this summer and then will work in the cardiovascular intensive care unit section at Ruby Memorial Hospital, where she plans to begin around August.

While her career as a student-athlete will be over, Gerber sees herself continuing to run – something she’s done for as long as she can remember.

“I feel like running is a really good metaphor for life too, it’s not about the sprint, it’s the marathon,” Gerber said. “Everything you go through, it’s kind of unexpected, but it’s all part of your journey and all the obstacles you face and how you react to it.”