Alex Aust stepped behind the white end line. She crouched down into a runner's stance and stood still, waiting for Maryland women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese to blow the whistle.
It was fall 2009, and Aust was a freshman attacker for the Terps. She needed to sprint 100 yards in 18 seconds and jog 100 yards back in 42, and she had to do it 20 times in a row.
Twenty minutes later, Aust was still running. She failed, and her outcome the next year was no different.
“I was in the Breakfast Club,” Aust said. “Anyone who didn’t pass our run test had to train with our strength and conditioning coach at 6 a.m., three days a week. I was basically the captain of the Breakfast Club.”
In the summer of 2011 going into her junior year, Aust worked every Maryland lacrosse camp with Reese. Camp started at 7 a.m., so Aust asked Maryland lacrosse’s strength and conditioning coach Mike Szemborski to run her at 6 a.m. daily.
That fall, Aust didn’t think twice when she lined up for 2.27 miles in sprints. She passed.
“My junior year was my breakout season for that reason,” Aust said. “I was fitter, so I was more confident. You wouldn’t think by just passing a run test, you’re going to have your breakout season. But it really was a massive roadblock for me.”
Reese said she doesn’t place great importance on Maryland’s run test, but it does build the team’s mental toughness and act as a personal marker for each player to know what’s necessary to elevate her game. The run test exemplifies Reese’s teachings as a coach. The four-time IWLCA Division I Coach of the Year stresses growing her players’ confidence and working hard for others.
In 2012, Aust led the team in points (96) and assists (52), the latter being the third-highest single-season total in Maryland history. She was also an IWLCA second-team All-American. In her senior season in 2013, she was a first-team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist. Aust continued to play professionally and was a member of the gold medal-winning 2017 U.S. national team.
This summer, Aust’s run test turned into a walk — a runway walk.
Aust was one of 15 Sports Illustrated Swim Search finalists who debuted at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit runway show July 10 in Miami. Former USC lacrosse player Katie Austin also made the final 15.
Both are among the 13 SI Swim Search models featured in the 2021 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, the publication announced Monday on Instagram.
The magazine hits newsstands Thursday. Twenty-four hours later, Aust will suit up for Athletes Unlimited, the new professional women’s lacrosse league’s debuting this weekend in Boyds, Md.
“To see how Alex’s confidence, leadership and discipline developed since freshman year and the different doors open for her is inspirational,” Reese said. “Alex is really taking risks and challenges.”