thecowl.sports

by thecowl.sports on May 4, 2017

By: Lauren Altmeyer ’17

Julian Oakley ’G has been running for the Providence College Cross Country and Track teams since the 2012-2013 season. All the way from Tauranga, New Zealand, Oakley came to Providence mainly because of Ray Treacy. He told Big East, “He’s a great coach, he’s got a great record that really just speaks for itself…I saw it as a great opportunity for me to get an education and compete in the NCAA with some of the best runners in the world.”

At the end of his sophomore year, Oakley achieved his goal of breaking four minutes in the mile with a time of 3:58. Today he can run the 1,500 meters at 3:43.04, the fastest time in the Big East this season and 16th in the NCAA East Region. For his performance at the Larry Ellis Invitational on April 21, finishing fourth place overall, Oakley was named Big East Athlete of the Week.

Ray Treacy told Big East, “Julian’s strongest trait, I think, is that he’s very competitive and that trait comes out a little bit more during cross country season, which is a discipline that wouldn’t be considered his favorite discipline. But he’s very, very tough during cross country season and he’s gone from being a person that didn’t run cross country at all in high school to being our number one guy on the team.”

On April 28, Oakley made his career debut in the 5,000 meters at the 123rd annual Penn Relays. He finished third overall with a time of 13:55.45, which is currently the fastest time in the Big East.

Next up for Julian Oakley and the Friars is the Big East Tournament which takes place May 12-13 at Villanova.