RICHMOND, Va. – Senior Kyle Martin has been selected as the VA Lottery Student-Athlete of the Week for his performance at the George Mason Last Chance Meet. The Last Chance was a make up for an event that had been canceled earlier in the season. Martin qualified for the IC4A Championships by shaving .04 off of his best effort from the indoor season in the 60-meter hurdles.

Martin spoke of the indoor season following the meet, "It was an interesting season. I started off with a different technique, a different style. It was a little shaky at first. I was kind of getting it, but not really."

The switch in techniques was something that affected Martin at the indoor championships, "At the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, I had a mental slip, a lapse. I made it to the finals, but that was the first time transitioning from seven steps to eight steps. I made an error, a huge error. I put myself out of the race and got last. That was kind of tough, being my last indoor meet. So last week, I just wanted to come out and run as fast as I could. Doing that has gotten me this far."

After qualifying for the IC4A Championships held this weekend in Boston, the hurdler has just been focused on running his race, "I'm just trying to stay calm and run my race, stay in my lane, get this eighth step down, and run fast. The goal is to make the finals and see where we go from there."

Martin was not always a track star, originally his heart was set on the gridiron, "Actually, I started track & field when I was about 12 years old. I used to play football. I was a receiver and was training to get faster. The first year, I saw people doing hurdles and I asked coach if I could do it. He thought about it for about a week before saying 'okay.' I fell in love with it."

As a track & field athlete, Martin is always competing with the clock and the senior feels the clock winding down, "The clock is always running against you. You're always trying to beat the clock. I try to beat the clock by trying to beat myself."

The senior ran smoothly yesterday to advance to the finals at the IC4A's, making his coach very proud.

Continue Reading for more on Martin…

Worked On Most During Off-Season… The thing I worked on most was getting my speed up, getting stronger, and getting my feet set between hurdles.  The overall goal is always to beat myself. I love being competitive. The technique had a lot to do with traveling faster, but we found that it didn't really fit my style of hurdling, so switching back to my old style is much more comfortable for me."

Criminal Justice Major… "I came in as a chemistry major, but I've switched a few times. Now, I'm a Criminal Justice major with a minor in Homeland Security. I'm not sure what I want to do with my degree yet. I'm deciding on going to law school or to become and FBI agent."

Favorite Thing About Coach Riley… "He's tough on you when he needs to be, but he also lets you know when you're doing a good job. He doesn't let you get away with much, but he's always trying to take you to that next level."

Best Moment At VCU… "Winning conference last year as a junior. That was my first victory in college and it felt really good. That is my championship and no one can take it away from me."

Love Most About VCU… "The diversity and people's openness to see knew things and meet knew people."

Athlete That Inspires You Most… "I would say, the athlete that I looked up to and did a lot of research on when I first started hurdling was Dayron Robles. He's an Olympic hurdler from Cuba. I liked his style. I tried to emulate how smooth he was, his technique. He definitely inspired me a lot when it came to hurdles."

Introduced at halftime of Men's Basketball game... "The crowd's energy is always something to feed off of. It definitely inspires and motivates you to do better. It was great to hear them talk about what we do as a team for VCU and it feels good to be supported.

Misconceptions About Track & Field... That it is an individual sport, because as much as it is an individual sport, you do have you're whole team that you're competing with and for. Especially when you go to conference meets or anything like that. The other thing is that we just run. We don't just run. We get out there and work on a lot of techniques, a lot of form. There are a lot of minute details that separate the elite from those trying to be elite."

Hardest Part Of Being a Track & Field Athlete... "For me personally, I think that it is knowing the difference between running hurdles and jumping hurdles. You want to run through every hurdle as opposed to run, jump, run, jump. That was the hardest thing for me to grasp, not jumping the hurdles, but taking an elongated step and keeping your stride quick. It just started sinking in last year to be honest with you." 

VCU Student-Athlete Means… "I have the privilege of taking advantage of all that VCU has to offer as a school. It also means being successful at a national level as an athlete and bringing some pride to my school's colors."

Favorite Color… "My favorite color is teal. I like blue, but teal is one of my favorites."

Batman Vs. Superman or Marvel Civil War… "I've always followed Batman, Superman and the Justice League, but I'm more excited to see the Civil War, you always have to side with the Hulk. The Hulk is my favorite fighter, but my favorite Avenger is definitely Iron Man. His charisma, his personality, I see a lot of myself in him."

Ben Affleck as Batman… "I don't know. I hope so, but my man Christian killed that role, I don't if anyone can follow him."

Game of Thrones… "I have not had a chance to catch up yet. I've seen the first season, but I have to get caught up before it comes back."

Favorite 90's Nickelodeon show… "That is a tough one. Probably Keenan & Kel or All That."

Favorite Disney Movie… "I was actually just talking about Aladdin versus Lion King. Lion King that is old school. That is the OG right there, you can't go wrong with that."

Favorite NFL Team Growing Up… "Redskins all the way."

Oscars on Sunday… "I tried to watch it. I saw bits and pieces of it. I heard that my man Leonardo finally won an Oscar though. Finally! Long overdo. Did you see that bear scene? Oh my gosh! The whole time I was thinking, 'man if he doesn't win an Oscar for this, I don't know.'"

Favorite DiCaprio Movie… "That is hard, shoot they are all so good. I want to say The Great Gatsby or Django, but Catch Me If You Can that is my movie."