> SOUTHERN INDIANA — From a layman’s perspective, Brendan Chwalek had a successful freshman season last year for the Nova Southeastern University men’s cross country team.

The Silver Creek graduate was named the Sunshine State Conference Runner of the Week twice, ran 14th in the SSC Championships in a personal-best time and qualified for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Evansville.

But as far as Chwalek was concerned, he performed below his personal expectations at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., school during the 2009 season.

“I thought I underachieved,” Chwalek said. “If I would have focused harder, I would have done better.”

Therefore, Chwalek decided to make a change in the offseason. He transferred to Northern Kentucky University, where he will run for the Norse cross country squad. Under NCAA rules, Division II runners do not have to sit out a season if they transfer to another D-2 school.

For the last few weeks, Chwalek has been training with his new teammates as they prepare to compete for the Great Lakes Valley Conference title and earn a spot in nationals. Chwalek said he decided to transfer to NKU because it was closer to his hometown of Sellersburg and the school offers a degree in human resources.

“It’s been going well,” Chwalek said about the preseason training. “Everyone has been running together. We’ve put in some good mileage as a team.”

Northern Kentucky head coach Steve Kruse is thrilled to have Chwalek on his squad.

“We are entering our third week of practice, and it appears that Brendan should be one of our top five guys,” Kruse said. “We are just pounding away at the mileage right now and Brendan looks fit. I look forward to working with Brendan this season and for many years to come, as I see a very bright future for him here.”

Chwalek enters a program that has had some success recently. The Norse have reached the nationals in 2006 and 2007.

Chwalek thinks Northern Kentucky has a chance to go back to nationals this season. Plus, he has his sights set on making the all-GLVC team and the all-Midwest Regional squad.

“Everyone wants to work hard this year and make nationals,” Chwalek said. “Honestly, our team goal is we would love to win conference, but I’d love for us to make it to nationals.”

Chwalek said the Norse’s schedule should prepare him more for the NCAA Championships this season, provided he makes the event. Northern Kentucky will run in several meets that will include several Division I schools. Plus the GLVC has some solid Division II teams like the University of Southern Indiana, Bellarmine, Drury and Lewis.

Along with the challenging schedule, Chwalek says his team practices on a course with several hills. Last year’s NCAA Championships’ course in Evansville also had a lot of hills, which Chwalek said he struggled with because he rarely practiced on hilly courses at Nova Southeastern.

“The schedule is going to prepare me more,” said Chwalek, who finished 144th at the 2009 nationals. “In practice, we go up more hills so that should prepare me more.

“I’m definitely on the right track. We run more, we have more two-a-day practices and more core workouts. I want to stay hungry and be determined.”

Chwalek had a successful high school career at Silver Creek. He was the Southwestern Sectional individual champions in both 2007 and 2008 and qualified for the IHSAA State Finals all four of his years as a Dragon. Chwalek also helped Silver Creek win four consecutive sectional titles and a regional crown in 2006.

But he says the college level is a whole different ballgame in comparison to the prep ranks.

“Honestly, the success in high school hurt me a little more, because I took things for granted,” Chwalek said. “In college, there is more dedication and more hard work.”