Growing up with more than 70 first cousins, many of whom played college athletics, could attribute to freshman Heather O'Brien's love for sports.
"Our family is pretty competitive," O'Brien said. "We have a very active nature."
Or maybe her passion stemmed from her high school, Bishop Chatard High School, which has won more football state championships than any other in Indiana. More than 90 percent of students at Bishop Chatard also participate in varsity, club or intramurals sports.
During her four years at the Indianapolis Catholic school, O'Brien lettered in basketball, volleyball and tennis. However, the absence of cross-country is glaring on her resume.
That's because O'Brien, DePauw's top finisher at every meet for the women's cross-country team this year, did not start running until her last semester of high school.
"I was originally coming here to play tennis, this was always my first school in general regardless of sports," O'Brien said.
She decided to run track in the spring to stay in shape, while balancing tennis.
"I was encouraged to look into running in college by my coach," O'Brien said. "He could tell I was more of a distance person. When I decided to run [for DePauw], I reconsidered a few things, but I knew I had made the right school decision."
It was a unique situation to be communicating with the cross-country head coach Kori Stroffregen and tennis head coach Scott Riggle simultaneously. O'Brien swayed back and forth between a new interests and old passions for about two weeks.
"I never ever in my whole life thought that I was going to end up completely changing this whole decision," she said. "[Riggle] was so nice, he was really understanding."
The freshman standout hasn't given her teammates or competitors any reason to believe she is a novice runner, winning the Wabash Hokum Karem meet with sophomore Hope Jordan and placing 16th and 2nd in the team's last two races.
Her talents at both tennis and cross-country may have stemmed from her parents: her mom played tennis and her dad ran track.
Men's cross country teammate Noah Droddy, a senior, went as far as predicting O'Brien will be an All-American at DePauw.
"She's going to get better and better every week, and I'm excited to hear about how she does in the next three years," Droddy said.
Despite O'Brien's early success, she hasn't let it overly boost her confidence. O'Brien gives credit to her teammates for being supportive, but she has plenty of nerves before every race.
"I freak myself out, I get so nervous," she said. "I'm really about consistency. I wear the same socks. I also chew gum with every race, not only to keep my focus during the race but also to help with my breathing. I don't like a full piece, but half isn't enough. So I put a full stick in my mouth but keep ripping shreds off until it feels right."
O'Brien and the team will be returning Oct. 6 to run in the Gibson Family Invitational, the site of the Div. III national meet. Not having a race in three weeks provided the team with time for intense workouts and increased mileage.
"We're going to run a lot, it's really not a break," Stroffregen said. "It's a break from racing but not from running. This is a hard three weeks of workout before the second half of our season."
The heightened workouts are a great time to refocus and prepare for the regional meet, O'Brien said. As much of a rollercoaster experience her past year was, she remains grateful for the opportunity to run and compete every day.
"If you set your mind to something, as cheesy as it may sound, you really can do a lot with putting forth all your effort," O'Brien said. "As long as I keep working hard at it, I can make a lot out of the experience."