SIGNING: Saints' Lopez signs with UMO

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 31, 2017 7:08 AM

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DUDLEY -- Need somebody to keep a secret?

Look for Elizabeth Lopez.

She definitely believes that "mum is the word."

The Southern Wayne senior agonized over her future. Should she become a student-athlete at the University of Mount Olive or experience life as a Marine? Lopez could have ventured in either direction.

Trojans head coach Matt van Lierop contacted Lopez and queried about her post-high school intentions. She mentioned the military, but that plan soon faded into the background.

Hello, UMO.

Lopez visited van Lierop and signed the national letter-of-intent in his office. She told her best friend, but never uttered a word to the Saints' coaching staff.

"It was surreal. Is this really happening?" said Lopez, who will run cross country and indoor/outdoor track. "One door closed. Another door opened. It felt amazing. Then I told coach. They asked 'why didn't you tell us?' I wanted it to be a surprise.

"It really caught them off guard."

Indeed.

Silence is golden.

Lopez is the third athlete from the News-Argus readership area to sign an NLI with one of the nation's most-respected Division II programs this spring. Princeton's duo of Austin Sullivan and Brent Hurst, a pair of distance runners, are also part of the Trojans' incoming freshman class this fall.

"I think she was concerned about how she was going to pay for school," SW head coach Takisha Vann said. "This is a blessing that literally dropped in her lap because she was really stressing. She's improved each year...a model student-athlete.

"She knows going in that she's got some work to do, but I think she's up for the challenge."

An out-spoken and charismatic teenager, Lopez looks forward to running alongside other athletes who are respected and talented. She's felt a little intimidated, but remembers that she worked her way from the back to the front in high school. She can do the same at UMO.

Lopez has the determination.

She's willing to push herself to the limits.

A UMO grad, Vann said the senior's strength is the 800-meter run. Her personal record (PR) is 2 minutes, 40 seconds. She has cautioned Lopez that she must drop that time significantly to compete successfully on the D-II level.

"She has one of the best kicks out of all of our girls that ran the 800," Vann said. "She had a lot of stamina, could hold a better speed than anybody else on our team for a long period of time."

A short- to middle-distance runner, Lopez didn't elaborate on van Lierop's intentions this fall. She's already received a daily workout regimen -- a stringent schedule that UMO's coaching staff devised to prepare the athletes for grueling in-season runs.

Lopez awaits the challenge.

And she must avoid intimidation.

"Going into a sport where it is just yourself, it's a little more pressure, but it feels much more amazing to accomplish something on your own...not have to rely on anybody else," Lopez said. "You have to push yourself and your main goal is getting that PR."

Which she is certain not to keep a secret.