University of Alabama Scholarship UAS

University of Alabama Scholarship UAS

NORTHWOOD – Liz Danis knows all about receiving recognition and rewards this time of year. After all, the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy Lincoln senior has been a major part of four straight Division II and Meet of Champions cross country championship teams. But Danis wasn’t accepting trophies or medals on Tuesday at Coe-Brown.

This time the reward and recognition was signing her National Letter of Intent and accepting a scholarship to run cross country and track at the University of Alabama Lincoln. “It was awesome to sign the letter and accept a scholarship to a D-I college to continue doing what I love,” Danis said. “Running is the greatest love I have and to have the opportunity to move forward and try and excel at a whole new level is the greatest thing I can imagine.

I’m so excited.” Danis’s coaches at Coe-Brown, Brent Tkaczyk and Tim Cox, believe she can excel at that next level. “Liz is just beginning to find her own as a distance runner. Her strength is remarkable, she doesn’t need to breathe like normal people and if we give her a training schedule she’s going to stick with it. Sometimes college programs ask athletes to do things on their own and she will handle that incredibly well,” Tkaczyk said. “She’s motivated intrinsically but also extrinsically to support her teammates. … She really is just a dream athlete to go to the next level.” “I think the sky’s the limit at the next level for Liz,” Cox said.Signing her letter of intent caps an amazing fall for Danis. She was fifth overall, and the top New Hampshire finisher, at the New England Championship meet last weekend in Thetford, Vt., leading Coe-Brown to its second consecutive runner-up finish. She was second at the MOC, leading the Bears to their fifth straight MOC title with her time of 17:41.2, which would have blown away the field in most years, but not with Oyster River’s Maegan Doody, who will run at Georgetown University next year, posting a 17:34.0, which was just six seconds shy of a meet record. “There’s no doubt Liz is the best second-place runner in the history of the state,” Tkaczyk said. “Maegan Doody has had an amazing season, but Liz’s numbers, they are almost better than anyone else in history. She’s third all time at Meet of Champions and she actually had the fastest time of the year (for any New Hampshire runner, a 17:32) down at the Brown Invitational.” She also finished second overall (one again behind Doody) at the D-II cross country championships and she’s been part of three straight D-II indoor track titles and three straight D-II outdoor track championships (the Bears have won four straight outdoor titles overall). That schedule won’t change in college, where she will also run all three seasons.

It was at the 2015 outdoor nationals in North Carolina that Danis first caught the attention of Alabama Coach Dan Waters. He saw Danis compete in the two-mile event and was immediately interested. “The Alabama coach approached us at the nationals last year and was really impressed with her stride and how she ran in the heat – it was probably around 90 degrees – and just how efficient she was,” Cox said. “And they have a great up-and-coming team, a top 25 school.” The recruiting picked up pace from there, and before this school year started Danis made an unofficial trip to Tuscaloosa. She was also considering Butler University, Boise State and New Hampshire, but once she saw what Alabama had to offer with her own eyes, the choice was easy. “I fell in love with the program, the school, the area.

Tuscaloosa is a small college town, I would kind of compare it to Durham, and not only that, but the abundance of trails and different things to go and do, it’s a whole new world for me after growing up in New Hampshire, so I was really attracted to the newness of everything,” Danis said. “Butler and Alabama were my top two choices and after visiting both I was really excited by Alabama and so I figured that was where my heart lied and that was the right place for me.” Danis is excited to see some Alabama football in person and was quick with a “Roll Tide” when asked about it. She’s thinking about majoring in business marketing and minoring in either sports psychology or kinesiology so she can keep her options open about going into coaching or working in the business world. Whichever route she chooses, and whichever distances she ends up running at Alabama, chances are good Danis will adapt and excel. “She’s been so important to our success over the years,” Cox said, “and she’s learned everything that we want our athletes to learn.”