ChE Tulsa University

 
           
ChE Graduate Student wins Tulsa Run Women's 15K

Fride Vullum, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Tulsa won the women's division of the Tulsa Run on Saturday October 31, 2004. Congratulations to Fride! Fride is a PhD student doing research work under the direction of Dr. Dale Teeters of the Chemistry Department. Fride is amazed at how many people have come to congratulate her on the win in the Tulsa Run. She didn't realize people would be so impressed and she is pleasantly surprised to receive so much recognition.

When asked about her confidence before the race started, Fride said she thought she had a chance to win but wasn't completely confident about it. She said she knew every piece of the puzzle had to fall in the right place, and that she knew had to run a smart race to win. She was worried about Camille Herron (also a TU student) running a better race. Camille had run some strong races prior to the Tulsa Run, and Fride knew that Camille could beat her.
"I really wasn't sure that I was going to win until I passed the 14 km mark", Fride said, "I sat in second place about 2/3 of the race. Camille started out a little more ambitious than I did, so she was in the lead for a large part of the race. However, I could see her in front of me the whole time. I started closing the gap about half way through the race and I passed Camille at about 10km. Even though she didn't go with me when I passed her, I wasn't sure how far behind she was. It ended up being about 1 min at the end, but I had no clue about that. So I tried to push it as hard as I could until the end in fear of being caught on the last kilometer."

Though this was Fride's first time running the Tulsa Run, Fride did run in the Hurricane Run, an 8 km race that starts and finishes at the TU track. Fride won that race about 1 min ahead of Lisa Butler who finished third this year in the Tulsa Run. Fride said she was very happy with her time, and it was faster than she expected, but she thinks there is still more room for improvement. Other runners should watch out because Fride plans to be back even stronger next year.
Besides her full time duties as a graduate student, Fride volunteers at Booker T. Washington High School helping coach the girl's cross country track team. She has a hectic course schedule this semester, but stays in touch with the Booker T. Washington girls and the head coach on a weekly basis. She has also attended all of the cross country meets. In previous semesters, Fride has gone up the Booker T. Washington 2-3 times a week to work with the girls.