Valerie Jirak, a 2024 graduate of Star Valley High School, stepped into the SVI Radio studio on June 5 to chat with Duke & Dahl during First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday. Jirak discussed her first two seasons competing in Track & Field for Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and what her goals are heading into her junior season.

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(0:00) Duke and Dow with you in studio this morning (0:02) and a chance to catch up with Starbody High School alumni. (0:05) That’s Valerie Yurok, who’s heading into her junior season (0:09) with the Duke Blue Devils track and field program. (0:13) Val, good morning, welcome back to Wyoming.
(0:15) Good morning, thank you for having me. (0:17) You saying that I’m a junior makes me feel so old right now. (0:20) Well, I was just gonna say, I’m like, (0:22) are you sure it’s been that, yeah, (0:23) it’s amazing how fast that goes.
(0:25) Well, Val, thank you for coming in. (0:27) When I reached out to you, I thought, (0:28) okay, this will be a phone call thing, (0:30) but you’re like, no, I’m in town, (0:31) and so we’re thrilled to have you in studio with us. (0:36) Get us caught up a little bit.
(0:38) Tell us about some of your experiences at Duke (0:40) and maybe some things that stand out to you. (0:42) I know that’s kind of a big question to answer, (0:45) but what are some of your thoughts? (0:46) Yeah, of course. (0:47) I mean, Duke has been incredible to me in itself, (0:50) and the people there are amazing, (0:52) and I’ve been very fortunate to have gone to school there (0:54) for as long as I have, (0:56) and I’m just grateful for that, of course.
(0:59) In terms of track, the past two years, (1:04) my freshman season, I would say, was very successful, (1:07) and I would say my sophomore season was very successful, (1:10) but in two different manners. (1:11) I would say my freshman season, (1:14) I was very lucky to have it go as well as it did, (1:17) because usually it’s hard to adjust (1:20) to the new college atmosphere, (1:22) and being able to still PR off of that, (1:26) and off my freshman season, (1:28) I can’t remember what happened indoors, (1:30) because that’s just a blur in my mind, (1:34) but for the outdoor season, (1:37) I placed fifth, I believe, at ACC’s, (1:40) and I also PR’d by almost 300 points for my freshman mark, (1:43) and throughout the season, (1:44) I dropped nearly almost a second in my 200, (1:47) which is crazy to think about, even for myself, (1:50) because I’m like, that’s such a short race. (1:51) How is there even a second to drop (1:53) from what I did in high school? (1:55) And then, in terms of other things, (1:58) my 800 dropped about five seconds as well, (2:01) and then from that, I got to compete (2:04) at the Junior National Championship, (2:07) where I became runner-up and qualified (2:09) for the USA World Team, (2:12) and we were going to go to, (2:13) I can’t remember if it was Peru or Columbia, (2:15) but it got canceled just because of, (2:17) there was civil disrupt or something in that area, (2:21) which was unfortunate, (2:22) but, I mean, I got to enjoy the summer, (2:25) so that’s a bonus.
(2:26) You know, I didn’t have an extra couple months of track, (2:30) but, so yeah, my freshman season (2:32) ended up being junior runner-up, (2:35) what do you call it, U20s? (2:37) And then, additionally with that, (2:40) I was 26 in the NCAA, (2:42) and top 24 getting to go to the NCAA Championship, (2:45) and I missed out by two points (2:47) out of 5,500 or whatever points, (2:50) but I think the path that it took me on was great as well, (2:54) and then, yeah, my sophomore, (2:56) I feel like I’m just rambling on. (2:57) No, you’re doing awesome, keep going, this is great. (2:59) Okay, my sophomore season, (3:01) coming into it off my freshman season, (3:05) I was battling allergies really bad, (3:08) and they couldn’t figure out what it was, (3:10) because in practice, I’d be like hard to breathe, (3:12) and I was like, oh my gosh, what is happening? (3:13) So they put me on an inhaler, (3:15) and put me through all these tests, (3:17) and come to find out it was actually this thing called (3:19) vocal cord dysfunction, which was crazy.
(3:22) My vocal cord would actually close itself (3:23) whenever I would try to work out, (3:25) and it would get high and tense, (3:27) so I had to go through training to relearn how to breathe, (3:29) but through that, it actually helped my 800, (3:32) which was crazy. (3:35) We’d be running workouts, (3:36) and once I figured out how to manage it, (3:38) and what to do properly, (3:40) I would be running, and a wall doesn’t exist anymore, (3:44) which was crazy, because we’ll run 400 repeats, (3:47) and then you get tired, and you just fall off, (3:49) but I’d find the point where I’d get tired, (3:51) I actually would have more energy, (3:52) because of this thing that I had to deal with, (3:54) and it taught me all these breathing techniques, (3:57) and I could actually just speed up, (3:59) and I was like, whoa, what is happening? (4:01) So that was insane to learn about, (4:04) and then additionally with that, this year, (4:07) I also have on top of it, it was like boom, boom, boom, (4:10) I have this thing called visual snow syndrome, (4:14) where my eyes, as I would work out, (4:16) they would just get worse, and I was like, (4:17) oh my gosh, my body’s falling apart, this is crazy, (4:21) and then, so I kind of missed a lot of practices (4:26) going into the fall training, (4:28) and then into the spring, I was like, (4:31) okay, everything’s good, I’m so ready to compete, (4:34) like I’m ready for this, and then I had an ankle injury, (4:36) and I was like, oh my gosh, (4:38) this is what is happening right now, (4:41) but through that, I gained so much mental strength, (4:46) that by the time it came to compete for the outdoor ACCs, (4:49) which I didn’t think I’d be able to compete at, (4:51) because I was injured, I was so much stronger (4:54) than I had ever been, and I was like, wow, (4:57) this is incredible, and even though I didn’t get a score, (4:59) like what I want to score, it was, I would say, (5:02) one of my most successful seasons that I had, (5:05) just because of everything that happened, (5:07) and still being able to perform, and PRing, (5:11) my first hurdle race that I did in outdoors (5:14) at our home meet, I PRed, and I was like, (5:16) oh my gosh, what is happening, this is incredible, (5:19) so I would say that’s a sum of it, (5:21) two totally different seasons, (5:23) but two very, very successful seasons (5:25) that will lead me into my junior year so incredibly. (5:29) That’s pretty amazing, that you’ve gone through all of that (5:32) and have learned all those different things (5:34) just in those two years, and I remember (5:37) when you came in the studio two years ago, (5:39) when you’d made the commitment, and you were going to Duke, (5:41) and of course, there was so much uncertainty (5:43) in how things were gonna go, when you look back (5:46) at where you were then, and where you are now (5:49) after going through all those experiences, (5:50) what do you say has been the biggest change for you, (5:52) and how you’re, even just mentally, (5:55) heading into your junior year? (5:56) Yeah, the biggest change for me actually was (5:59) I heard this video by this guy named Father Mike Schmidt, (6:03) he does some of these inspirational things, (6:06) and talks about them, and I’m very faith-based, (6:08) and so it kind of resonated well with me, (6:11) and it was like, don’t just be great, (6:17) it was like, people can say, oh, I wanna be great, (6:19) and that’s kind of like, I wanna be better (6:20) than somebody else and be great, (6:21) but no, I wanna be great at what I do.
(6:24) I wanna be able to say I’m great at what I do, (6:26) and you know what, I’m really good at what I do, (6:29) and it’s not that I’m better than somebody else (6:31) that’s next to me, it’s like, no. (6:33) Me, myself, I’ve done all these things, (6:36) and mastered all these things at a certain level, (6:38) so many different areas you would not imagine (6:41) that you have to have under control to compete, (6:44) and it’s like, I’m able to say right now, (6:45) I feel like I am, I would say obviously (6:48) there’s still room to improve, I still have two years, (6:51) maybe three years left if the five-year thing (6:54) passed for the NCAA, I don’t know if you guys (6:55) heard about that, but I really wanna be great (7:00) at what I do, so I think that’s one thing that’s helped me. (7:05) Well, Valerie, just listening to your responses, (7:07) it seems like your whole mindset has been one of, (7:11) even though there’s been challenges, (7:13) you’re taking that as a challenge to overcome an obstacle (7:17) and maybe come out better on the other side, (7:19) is that fair to say? (7:20) Yeah, definitely, I remember when the stuff first (7:23) was starting, and I called my mom, and I was like, (7:26) you know what, I’m so grateful for this to have (7:28) happened to me, because I love challenges, (7:30) and I love being able to learn from them, too, (7:33) and it’s like, if I go through my daily life, (7:36) and I’m just walking around, and nothing’s happening, (7:39) how am I gonna get better from that? (7:41) So I’m very grateful for this season.
(7:45) Valerie, you’re rocking studio this morning, (7:47) Duke Blue Devil, so Valerie, let’s talk about (7:50) some of the things that have happened with, (7:53) you mentioned some of your running events, (7:55) but you’ve done a lot of, I mean, the javelin, (7:57) you didn’t throw the javelin when you were here (7:59) going to high school, because it’s not an event, (8:01) so talk to us about picking up those other types (8:04) of events, and doing those for the Blue Devils, too. (8:06) Yeah, yeah, I remember we were talking about this (8:09) last time I was in here, two years ago, (8:11) and chapeau and jav were my worst events, (8:15) by far worst events, just because I’m not a thrower, (8:19) I would say I’m not technically built entirely for that, (8:23) I’m not very tall, and I’m not very big, either, (8:28) so I don’t have the mass to move the mass, you know? (8:30) And my javelin in high school, just to go off reference, (8:35) it was about 100 feet, and then my chapeau (8:38) was about 30 feet, as well, and my freshman year, (8:43) my jav went to 130 feet, and my chapeau went to 36 feet, (8:48) so it was just like, I don’t even know how to explain it, (8:54) it was just like, whoa, did I just do that? (8:58) Yeah. (8:59) So in terms of your pentathlete events, (9:05) which one’s your favorite? (9:06) Kind of bounced around with that, (9:08) because in high school, I would have said high jump, (9:10) I really enjoyed high jump, and it was so much fun, (9:13) and it still is fun, but I think, coming to it now, (9:17) I would say the 200 or the 800’s my favorite, (9:21) just because it’s like, one of the events (9:24) you actually get to sit next to somebody else on the track, (9:26) and you get to feel, when you do good, you feel it.
(9:32) Shoulder to shoulder, you get to compete with them. (9:34) Exactly, yeah. (9:35) So Valerie, when did it sink in that, (9:40) I mean, you’re in Durham, North Carolina, (9:43) going to Duke University, I mean, (9:45) it’s a huge prestigious school, (9:46) you’re competing in the ACC, I mean, (9:48) at what point in your freshman year (9:50) did that hit you at some point, and think, (9:54) I can’t believe I’m actually living in Durham (9:55) going to Duke University right now (9:57) competing in college athletics? (9:58) Yeah, I mean, getting there first my freshman year, (10:01) and then kind of getting through everything, (10:02) I was like, wow, it’s really cool to be here, (10:05) but I think the first time I realized (10:06) that I’m at Duke, the school itself, (10:10) was after our first midterms, I was like, (10:13) I’m at Duke, yep.
(10:15) That’s when it hit. (10:16) Yep. (10:18) Yeah, so that’s also been one of the other things (10:21) that I’m finally proud of, I used to be a person (10:25) that was like, I don’t like talking about grades, (10:26) but I’m like, you know what, I did that, I did that.
(10:31) Nice. (10:32) Yeah. (10:33) Well, you’ve got two, maybe three years left, (10:35) obviously, for that, working on a degree, (10:38) things like that, tell us about maybe the academic side, (10:41) and then also some of the goals (10:42) that you’d like to accomplish before you graduate.
(10:46) Yeah, so I would say in my life, (10:49) before college, I was a bit more athlete student (10:54) than student athlete, and so getting to school, (10:56) I had to change that up a little bit, (10:58) and so my freshman year was definitely a learning curve, (11:00) and then my sophomore year, I’m very proud of this, (11:02) I will say, I had straight A’s. (11:04) What? (11:04) This past semester. (11:06) That’s incredible.
(11:07) So, very proud of it. (11:09) Yes, I had to figure out what I wanted to do (11:12) with my life first, and still don’t entirely know, (11:15) but I’m studying neuroscience and psychology, (11:17) just because it leaves enough paths open (11:20) for me to figure it out in the future, (11:22) when the time comes. (11:24) But yeah, that’s basically my.
(11:26) That’s cool. (11:27) Well, congratulate, you should be proud of that, (11:29) that’s enough to do that. (11:31) Val, one thing I wanted to ask you is NIL stuff, (11:35) because Dal and I, we talk about it on the show (11:38) all the time, because we talk sports, (11:39) but we don’t really live in the world (11:41) of college athletics, and so we’ve talked to people (11:44) that work at the universities, (11:45) but I don’t know that we’ve ever been able (11:47) to actually sit down with a college athlete.
(11:49) Yeah. (11:49) And be like, what do you, (11:50) how is NIL helping you as a student athlete (11:56) get through so that you can not only have success (11:58) on the field and the track like you have been, (12:00) but also so that you can get straight A’s (12:02) at Duke University? (12:04) I mean, talk to us about that, (12:06) and how that whole process has worked for you. (12:07) Yeah, very fortunate for the NIL field.
(12:12) So we have kind of more development now at Duke. (12:16) I don’t know if you guys ever heard (12:17) about the runner Emily Cole from our university. (12:21) She was a big NIL girl.
(12:23) She had like, I don’t even know, (12:24) like tons of NIL deals, and she is starting a program now. (12:28) It’s called, it’s with the True Blue Network, (12:33) Blue Devil Network, something like that, (12:35) but they kind of connect athletes with NIL stuff, (12:38) and then a bunch of social media, (12:39) because that’s heavy, obviously, for it, (12:41) and so they’ll connect you with people (12:43) and get you, they do the work for you, (12:46) pretty much, a lot of it, (12:47) and if people want to reach out, (12:49) and they have a list of people, (12:50) like, hey, we need NIL for this person, (12:52) go into this area, it’s kind of, (12:54) I mean, I don’t know how football and basketball runs it, (12:57) because track isn’t as popular, (13:00) as big of a sport as those, (13:02) especially in the United States, (13:05) and so, because they have huge NIL, (13:09) so this kind of helps connect us as well, (13:11) and then for myself, I’ve actually been fortunate enough (13:15) to be a brand ambassador for the drink company Celsius, (13:20) so, through that, they have stuff, (13:24) I kind of, I won’t say I’m shy about it, (13:29) but I’m not a big social media person, per se, (13:33) and so they have stuff where it’s like, (13:35) because there’s a lot of things (13:36) that you can make money off of, (13:37) but it’s doing all these social media things. (13:39) I need to get more comfortable with it, I would say, (13:42) but other than that, I get free drinks, (13:43) so I don’t complain.
(13:45) Hey, nice! (13:47) Like, I mean, who doesn’t want a free drink, (13:49) especially like, I’m a big caffeine person, (13:53) so, I mean, I don’t mind it. (13:57) I was gonna say, I think you were part of the group (13:59) of girls, the relay we had talking about caffeine gum once, (14:02) and I was just like, yeah, that sounds awesome. (14:04) Yeah! (14:06) Valerie, you talked about this just a little bit (14:08) in that response, in terms of competition (14:12) and the excitement level for track and field in the US, (14:14) maybe versus overseas, have you thought about (14:17) maybe after college, competing overseas (14:19) and doing different things like that on that circuit? (14:24) Yeah, definitely.
(14:25) The European circuit is what you’re talking about, yeah. (14:29) So, I actually have some teammates right now (14:32) that have talked about getting involved in it, (14:34) and for me, the heptathlon is more of a developmental sport (14:38) or event in track and field, (14:40) because it is so intense, and then it just takes (14:44) a lot of years to get good at seven events, of course, (14:47) versus just having one where you can just do all the time. (14:50) And so, I think by the time that I graduate and stuff, (14:55) and hopefully I’d be, if I’m still, God willing, (14:57) if I’m still in track, I would love to be on that as well.
(15:03) And I think the timeline I’m on right now (15:08) is kind of next year’s U23s. (15:11) The year after that, I would, (15:15) I see it as being possible as being at the trials, (15:18) because that would be 2028, and then after that, (15:21) if that is a successful year and I choose to continue, (15:24) then I would be interested in competing in Europe, (15:27) because their track scene over there is incredible. (15:30) They love track in Europe, so.
(15:33) That’s very cool. (15:34) Valerie Yurok in studio this morning, (15:36) and a junior this fall at Duke University. (15:39) Val, it’s been a pleasure to catch up.
(15:41) Thank you so much. (15:41) I have one very important question that I want to ask. (15:44) Did you have a chance yet to join the Cameron Crazies (15:47) during a Duke basketball game? (15:49) Of course.
(15:50) Yes. (15:50) That’s like a crazy question to ask. (15:52) Of course I’ve been at the basketball game.
(15:53) What was that like? (15:54) The atmosphere is incredible. (15:56) I mean, tiny building. (15:58) You’d be surprised when you get there, (15:59) because I’ve been told it doesn’t look like that on TV.
(16:02) I just like, I don’t know, I haven’t watched it on TV. (16:06) I’ve watched it in person, very fortunate. (16:09) It’s incredible.
(16:10) And then all of our cheers when we start going, (16:14) it’s like the whole stadium. (16:16) And if you are UNC sitting in there, (16:18) you don’t even have a chance. (16:21) Love it, love it.
(16:22) Well, you had to see people like Cooper Flagg (16:25) and all that stuff. (16:27) Yeah, that’s cool. (16:27) Yeah.
(16:28) All right, well Val, thank you so much. (16:29) We appreciate your time, (16:30) and man, best of luck to you moving forward. (16:32) Thank you.
(16:32) Thank you. (16:33) It was great talking to you guys. (16:34) Star Valley High School grad, Valerie Urach, (16:35) heading into her junior season at Duke University.
(16:38) It’s first Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday on SVI Radio.