Back for the 2006-07 school year is 10 Questions. Each Friday, GoASU.com will feature three student-athletes in a 10 Questions segment. This week, women's cross country's Jennifer Kelley, men's basketball's Jeremy Harper and field hockey's Ali Gradischer took the time to sit down and answer 10 questions. 10 Questions with Women's Cross Country's Jennifer Kelley (Sr. ?€˘ Asheville, N.C.) 1. After red-shirting last season, what have you done to prepare yourself for the upcoming season? A. Since I not only got a stress fracture last summer, but also at the end of outdoor track, it took me a little while to startrunning again. I didn't do as many miles this summer as in the past, but I tried to up the intensity whenever I could. I was a little worried I would get hurt again, so I didn't want to come out and immediately start doing 50 miles a week. It took a little while to get into the swing of things, but so far I'm feeling pretty good. 2. What is your favorite brand of running shoes? A. My favorite brand of running shoe would have to be Asics. I have extremely high arches, and they work well with my feet. 3. What are your team and individual goals for the season? A. My first and foremost goal of the season is for our team to win the Southern Conference Championships. We have a really strong group of girls this year, and I know that with the right dedication and workouts, we can win, which is something that the girls team hasn't done since my Freshman year in 2002. Personally, I just want to finish out my career with a strong finish in the conference. I was all conference in 2002 and 2004, so to earn that honor again would be amazing, but it will be tough with all the competition from everyone in the conference. On the regional level, I think that our team has the potential to place in the top 10. Our region is always pretty strong with teams like UNC, NC State, Wake Forest and Florida State, but like I said earlier, we have a very strong top 9 this year and I don't think it's out of our reach. 4. What are your plans after graduation? A. I haven't fully decided what I'm going to do after graduation yet. I have applied for a job in Utah doing wilderness therapy, which is working with troubled youth out in the wild, helping them really get to know themselves and the world around them. My other option is to work for a semester and then start graduate school in the summer of 2007 to get a masters degree in counseling. I eventually want to become a high school counselor so that I can coach too. 5. Do you have any pre-meet superstitions or rituals? A. I don't really have too many superstitions or rituals. I always warm up, stretch and do drills and strides. I always say a little prayer before I start to ask God to give me the strength and the heart to get through the race without giving up, but I guess that's really the only thing I do every single time before the gun goes off. 6. What made you decide to run at Appalachian? A. I decided to run here at ASU mainly because it is a very good program, and the school wasn't too big. Coach Curcio is an extremely dedicated coach and I know that without him I wouldn't be where I am today. 7. What is your favorite restaurant? A. I would have to say my favorite restaurant is Our Daily Bread, on King Street. 8. What is your favorite class you have taken at Appalachian? A. Before this semester I would have said that my favorite class was Sociology of Sport with Dr. Muir. This semester however I am taking Classical Mythology and Classical Culture in the Harry Potter Novels, and I'm expecting big things out of that class. I know it's dorky, but I'm really excited about it. 9. What CD is currently playing in your car? A. An amazing CD by an amazing up and coming band called The Format. The CD is called Dog Problems. 10. When did you become involved in cross country and track? A. I have been running track since I was in 7th grade and cross country since I was in 8th grade. My older sister ran before me, and, like a typical little sister, I wanted to do everything that my older sister did, so I started running. After running my first mile ever in 5:59, I decided that I should stick to running because it might be able to get me somewhere. There wasn't a cross country team at my middle school at the time, so my dad worked with the principal to help get one started, and I've been running ever since. 10 Questions With Men's Basketball's Jeremy Harper (Sr. ?€˘ G ?€˘ Lenoir, N.C.) 1. Do you think about continuing basketball after college? A. That's always been a goal of mine since I started playing basketball as a young boy. Now that I've gotten to this age, I've reached reality and understand that it's hard to make it to the next level, but there are a lot of other leagues you can get paid for overseas that I'd like to go to. 2. Did you ever play anything other than basketball? A. Never. It's always been basketball. I've always been fast and coaches wanted me to run track, but at the same time, the AAU season would start. So when you weigh out the schedule between basketball and track, basketball would always win. 3. What is your game day routine? A. My game day ritual, I've always got to have that Jay-Z with me. Right before the game, I like to look out into the crowd and make sure I can find my parents in the stands. If I don't see them, I don't feel like I can go on because I'm worried about where they're at. Just having them there makes it more comfortable for me to play. 4. What's your nickname and how did you get it? A. J-Roc. Everyone has always called me 'J' and one day at church camp we were playing basketball and whenever someone asked for a pass they'd always ask for the 'Rock.' So when I had the ball and someone wanted a pass they'd say 'J-Roc' and it stuck. 5. You got to the semi-finals last year in the Southern Conference tournament. With basically the same squad returning, how do you feel about your chances this year? A. With us only losing one senior from last year, Lennox Marshall who was on the injured list and out for the season, we didn't really lose too much. We brought in three guys, guard Jeremi Booth, a great shooter, Kellen Brand, a quick, competitive and aggressive player and Donte Minter, a big transfer from Virginia. With those three added to the team, I think we could go a long way. 6. What's you major? A. Electronic Media Broadcasting 7. What's your favorite basketball memory? A. I've got quite a few. One that comes to mind is when I was in eighth grade. We were undefeated the whole year and we were in the championship game with my middle school team. We came back from fourteen down and held the ball for forty-five seconds. The defense was getting tired, everyone on both sides was standing up because they knew we were holding the ball and everyone was anxious. I caught the ball just behind the three-point line with three seconds left, let it go and it was nothing but net. The whole crowd jumped on me. 8. What's one thing you think everyone should know about being a basketball player here at Appalachian State? A. It's not easy. It's not easy at all. I think a lot of the fans and supporters don't realize how much work it is. We have to wake up at 6 a.m. to run, we have to go to weight lifting. Then we have a full day of class and as soon as you get out of class, there's no break, it's time for practice. Then when practice is over, you're tired and you still have homework to do. But before you do your homework, you've got to eat and whenever you eat and that makes you even more tired. So you're dreading doing your. The main thing is, it's not easy. It's almost like being a professional, it becomes your job. 9. Any hidden talents? A. A lot of people don't know this about me, but I'm a great cook. I like to cook and you can't even tell the difference between mine and my mother's cooking. 10. Do you like to ski or snowboard? A. I've never been. I've always wanted to learn but I've never had the time. 10 Questions with Field Hockey's Ali Gradischer (Jr. ?€˘ F ?€˘ Canton, Conn.) 1. What led you to come to Appalachian all the way from Connecticut? A. When I started looking at colleges, I already knew two very important things: I wanted to major in interior design and also play Division I field hockey. When senior year came around, I was being recruited by App for the field hockey team, and later on I agreed to come on an official visit. On this visit I met the coaches and the team, and got a tour of the interior design department and the rest of the Appalachian campus. My visit went really well, I loved the team and the campus, and I decided to choose App! 2. What is your favorite school to travel to? A. My favorite school to travel to is definitely California. We went out to Berkeley last November for our conference championship, and the area is beautiful and the field is amazing. I definitely wouldn't mind going back there again! 3. Did you have to choose between softball and field hockey in college? If so how did you make that choice? A. I love both sports, but for me I love field hockey more, so there was no hard decision for me to make. 4. What is your favorite game-day memory? A. My favorite gameday memory is of when I played in my first match for App. It was against UMBC and I remember how much faster the pace of the game was compared to high school, and how excited I was to be playing with my new teammates. 5. Who is the hardest worker on the team? A. Our whole team works very, very hard. We work hard for ourselves and also for each other. Everyday we give 100% at practice because we know how hard our schedule is this year, and in order to compete with some of the top-20 teams, we need to be in the best shape possible. 6. Which team do you most enjoy competing against? A. The team I like to compete against the most is Wake Forest. To have the opportunity to play such a competitive and talented team every year is pretty amazing. The skill level and pace of the game is extremely high and it makes us work hard and play with a lot of intensity. 7. What athletes did you look up to growing up? A. When I was younger I used to be very passionate about gymnastics. I was a gymnast for 10 years and so for me, my heroes were the girls that participated in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. I wanted to be Kerri Strug and Shannon Miller so bad! They were so confident in themselves and were risk takers. I really admire people like that. 8. Do you have any nicknames? If so, what is your favorite and why? A. Since I have been here at App, my teammates have given me the nickname Al-Mighty. I find it funny and a better nickname than just Al or Ali. 9. What is your favorite part about playing college field hockey? A. My favorite part about college field hockey is being part of a team. I loved knowing that when I came in freshman year, I would have 20 instant friends. The majority of our team is not from North Carolina so it's nice to know that we all consider each other family here at App. We're a small team, but we're extremely close and stick together through all the ups and downs that we've experienced so far.