This summer, GoVandals.com will be taking a deeper look into the worlds of its athletes with the Vandal Tribune.  Stay tuned all summer to hear directly from some of your favorite Vandals.
 
Nathan Stark is a fifth-year senior competing with Idaho Track and Field/Cross Country.  In this, his final season, Stark advanced to the NCAA Championships First Round for the first time, but his journey to the biggest stage is anything but ordinary.
 
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My childhood dream was to become a basketball player.
 
My oldest brother played basketball for UC Irvine, but he has the genes, and a little better makeup for basketball.  I thought that was going to be me too, so I focused all my attention on the sport.
 
My sophomore year the track coach came to practice and said 'if you guys want to increase your vert and be able to throw down, come out to track', SO I WENT OUT FOR TRACK AND FIELD JUST TO LEARN HOW TO DUNK.
 
And that was a big step for me too because I was playing baseball at the time.  I kind of gave up baseball to do track and field.  Through that, I knew that I needed to commit and be fully dedicated to the process.  What I really enjoyed about what my coach, Bryan Stith, was saying was that you're going to get what you put in.  Track and field is unique because it's just yourself.  The time won't lie, the mark won't lie.  If you are the fastest guy you're going to be the fastest.  It doesn't rely on playing time or that sort of politics in sport.
 
So I'm doing the jumps and Bryan has a mind for just seeing potential in people.  He wanted to develop my speed to get me down the runway faster so he put me in the 200 and I think he threw me in the 400 as well to see how I'd do in that.  Sure enough I was working my way down on this 400, and by my junior year I moved away slightly from the jumps.
 
I was doing the triple jump and the 400, and my 400 time was good enough to be on the 4x400 squad my junior year.  We go to state, ranked sixth and we end up getting third.  AND THAT FEELING, JUST THAT EXCITEMENT OF BEING UNDER THE LIGHTS AND THE BIG STADIUM I thought 'if this is what college track is like I would definitely consider doing this', as a goal.
 
After that meet, my coach talked to me and said that the way I ran it told them I might be more of a mid-distance type, I might have some 800-meter potential in me too.  The next year I had this interesting experience where I still wasn't certain about my basketball future and I really was enjoying the atmosphere and the culture of track and field.  That was just more enjoyable for me.
 
So I decided to quit basketball and do indoor track.
 
While I was doing indoor track I was told that I had the flexibility to do hurdles.  So we worked on that too.
 
They put me in an 800 and I hadn't done any distance-based before, I just ran when I felt like it.  I ran like a 2:14 or something and thought 'what have I gotten myself into?'  It was NOT a fun race.  But I knew the coaches saw something and I didn't have any distance in me yet, so I just had to work.  Just keep working.
 
Come outdoor track of my senior year I'm not doing jumps anymore.  I'm doing hurdle work and distance work, kind of alternating, and we end up going to this meet in Oregon and I know the runner there can run sub-two minutes in the 800.
 
For a high schooler that's kind of the goal if you haven't done it before.  I just told this guy, 'hey, I want to run fast with you, let's go and get it.'  So we go out and we end up coming around the final 200 and I feel really good.
 
SO I TOOK IT.
 
I end up running a 1:58 that day.
 
I finish up my high school career and I got a Facebook message from Wayne Phipps (former Idaho head coach) and he said I was more than welcome to walk on to the team if I wanted to.
 
Then he asked if I wanted to run cross country.
 
I figured no way.
 
In the fall, in high school, I was on the swim team.  I had been doing that since first grade, that was kind of my fall sport.  I SAID NO, I WASN'T A DISTANCE RUNNER, but I'd be happy to take the offer.
 
When I showed up there were a couple of fifth-year mid-distance runners at the time.  They were out of cross country eligibility but they had track, so I was working out with them.  I didn't realize that I was doing a lot of distance-oriented workouts and actually hitting these times.  By the time we hit the outdoor season I was asked to show up to a hurdles practice and I asked, 'is this for the 400-hurdles?' and they said 'NO. YOU'RE GOING TO DO THE STEEPLECHASE.'
 
So I had never raced over 800 and now I'm going to jump into a steeplechase at Whitworth.
 
We had Santos Vargas on the team at the time and he had run it in high school and was pretty good at it.  Him as a training partner and him as a teammate was really phenomenal, so I just hung out with him and he pulled me through.  I went 9:48 that day.  I DIDN'T KNOW AT THE TIME BUT THE GUYS ON THE TEAM WERE BETTING, SAYING I WASN'T GOING TO BREAK 10 MINUTES.  So to do that felt good.
 
EVER SINCE THEN, I JUST FELL IN LOVE WITH THE RACE.
 
And I can dunk.
 
A tennis ball.
 
Stark takes on the NCAA First Round in the 3000-meter steeplechase tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific.  Live results and stream links can be found on the track and field schedule page.
 
To stay current on all Vandal Athletics visit GoVandals.com, or follow the Vandals on Twitter, @Idaho_Vandals.
 
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho track and field/cross country by following the team on Twitter @IdahoTrack.