axel's personal best by A Mile. A Minute.

The framework of the most renown track and field and cross country programs always trace back to the coaching mainstays tasked with guiding endless rosters to the single mindset of teamwork.

Knowing what the next move is might not be guaranteed. But being in a place that feels right to assess and later build has defined Christian Patzka's collegiate journey and shed light on what it means to thrive in Division III.

Making a name for herself on her own merit has been the formula of Emma Grace Hurley's consistency as an emerging distance talent who has shined in her breakout moments with a second place finish at the 2024 USA Cross Country Championships and making the U.S. national team for the world cross country champs later that year.

Adjustments are inevitable in the sport and so far this year has been a mix of world leads, athletes moving up in disciplines or even using the season of no world championships or Olympics to start families.

Consistency and improvement are probably the two main pillars that Ben Allen routinely leans on when he lines up at the track on race day, but also in his approach to training. The Minnesota native has specialized in distances between the 800m and the mile for New York-based Empire Elite Track Club where he's defined his mark on the professional scene.

A commitment to the grind remains one of the main tools Nikki Hiltz is taking into the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships this weekend in Poland as they lock in and seize the chance to crack another finish line tape first and win on the international stage.

Olympic gold put Cole Hocker on global stage at the 2024 Paris Games when a final surge in the men's 1,500m silenced favorites like Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr — and propelled his growing legend as the one to beat.

Teen phenom Quincy Wilson walks — and runs — a fine line that stretches to a budding pro career while navigating his final year of high school at Bulls School in Maryland. In the fall he won't be too far away from home after committing to the University of Maryland and stepping into the collegiate arena.

The impact of making the Paris Olympics as part of Team USA's squad still resonates with Allie Wilson.

T'Mars McCallum is accustomed to running in a tough collegiate conference — the SEC — and boldly proud of being one of the leaders of Tennessee's track and field squad.

During in the beginning of a pandemic era that rattled the world in 2020, Isabella Whittaker saw her own beginnings as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. But it was after those days at Penn — after enrolling at Arkansas in 2024 as a graduate student — that Whittaker kickstarted the current state of her place in the track landscape.

The pivot from the classroom to lining up with the top pro runners in the world was an adjustment Graham Blanks had to quickly figure out after announcing last December that the signed with New Balance. His remaining time at Harvard was still a priority, but Blanks knew a portion of the bigger stage was reserved for him.

Humble beginnings and major childhood challenges kept Alison dos Santos well aware that guarantees were not easy to come by in his native São Joaquim da Barra, Brazil.

Emily Sisson has navigated the track, the road and found her way to the Olympic stage.

In the first episode of Axel's Personal Best, we chat with Olympic 800-meter silver medalist Marco Arop — who has a 1:41.2 PB and Canadian national record — about blazing the track in Grand Slam Track's inaugural season, the state middle distance running and the nuances of training for the 1,500 meter.