Tylock has Olympic dreams for Mansfield

She is one of the most dominant athletes at Mansfield University.

In her first collegiate meet Rachael Tylock broke a school record. In the process she also posted the top junior time in the nation this year.

In high school she was a two-time All-American.

She has a goal of trying to reach the Olympic Trials by this year. After that the goal is making the next summer Olympics.

As dominant as she has been, there's a good chance many people haven't heard of Tylock.

After all, when your event is race walking, you come to understand that it's not something everyone understands.

"It's hard to explain sometimes," Tylock said. "When I meet someone who went to school in New York, they usually know because it's part of the meets up there. When you meet people from other areas they don't know what it is."

What makes it even harder is that race walking is not done at every meet, so even her teammates haven't gotten the chance to see her compete yet this year.

"They've all seen me practice," she said. "Justen Johnson asked me, when are we going to see you race.

They haven't seen me race yet. So far I've only had the one meet.

"They went to a meet at the Armory and Susquehanna and I was here all alone. But, I'm getting ready for the Millrose Games. I was supposed to go last year, but New York high school eligibility rules wouldn't let me compete. It's hard being here alone while everyone's at a meet, but I just kept getting ready for the Millrose Games."

For many top high school athletes there are a ton of choices when it comes to choosing a college. For Tylock things were a little bit different.

"For me when I was looking at college I had to decide whether I wanted to race walk or not," she said. "To me that wasn't a choice, I knew I wanted to race walk. So, it came down to coaches and how close to home a place was."

And, what made Mansfield especially appealing was the coaches. Assistant coach Michelle Rohl, the wife of head coach Mike Rohl, was a three-time Olympian. She won 15 National racewalking titles and set nine American records in the event.

"I came here to train under coach Michelle and coach Mike," Tylock said. "I am really excited for the opportunity to work with them, especially with coach Michelle. She is the American record holder in the 20K race walk."

Things are a little different for Tylock in college. Unlike in high school, she is now the only race walker on the team. However, having the coaching she has now makes it all worth it.

"At my high school we had quite a few race walkers on my team," she said. "To come here, it was a big change. But, getting to train with coach Michelle when I came here it is great. I'm very lucky to have coaches like coach Michelle and coach Mike, who really understand what I'm doing and work with me."

And, with the training she is getting now, Tylock has set some big goals for her future.

"My goals have developed a lot further now," she said. "I'm too old for the Junior Olympics and Junior Nationals. It's an Olympic year and I know I won't make the Olympics this year, but my goal is to make it to the Olympic Trials. My bigger goal is to eventually make it to the Olympics."

One of the things that helps push big goals like the Olympics is that there are a limited number of elite people in the nation in the event.

"Race walking is a little unique," Tylock said. "There are not so many race walkers out there. It's not unusual to compete in a meet with Olympians. That is not uncommon."

To many the idea of race walking might seem a bit odd. Tylock can certainly understand that belief.

"One of my teammates, Alex Bock, saw me doing a drill and he told me he thought it was the weirdest drill he had ever seen," Tylock said.

"It does look funny. Some people get very defensive about it. But, you have got to have a good nature about it. I know it looks funny."

When she was in high school and first saw the event, Tylock thought the exact same thing.

"I thought the girls looked ridiculous," she said. "The year before I had a teammate who was a state champion, so I respected them, but I did think it looked funny."

And, when her coach asked her to try the event, she was completely against the idea.

"I did not want to do it, I put my foot down," she said. "My high school coach wanted me to do it. I was pole vaulting and he wanted me to try it. I was dead set against it. My first race, a JV meet, I pole vaulted and race walked and I loved my first race and I have loved it ever since."

While Tylock may joke about how funny her event can look, what she didn't appreciate was people mocking race walkers.

"I have told off the football kids and the lacrosse kids," she said. "In high school races you get some hecklers. My sister was race walking and I went home and watcher her race and some boys were making fun of her and I told them off."

While she does a specific event, and isn't always at the same meet as them, Tylock had no problems fitting right in with her college teammates.

One thing that made the adjustment easier was cross country season, even if it was a tough season for her.

"Cross country was a little bit rough," Tylock said "I came in out of shape. After my season last year I was sick and when cross country started it was really tough for me to get in shape. But, I was thankful for the season. I got to see how hard everyone worked in practice.

"Going into track I had a bond with the distance runners and I quickly got to know the sprinters and they are pretty cool to."

Now as she is back in the shape she wants to be in, Tylock is excited for this year and her future in race walking.

"I'm more excited," she said. "I am in better shape than I've ever been. I have some big meets to go to like the Millrose games. The past few years I went to things like the Penn Relays, but I really didn't get to go to the same things in high school.

"I'm excited to train more competitively now. In high school you are still developing. You are still growing and now I feel like I'm ready to compete."