Coordination is a necessary skill in most athletics. Being uncoordinated, however, has led Claire McAuley not only into a sport she loves, but across the ocean to a new country.

A Torrance, Glasgow native, McAuley has a general love of sports, but always felt untalented playing them. That is, until she had to run on the cross country course during her gym class in the first year of high school.

“No one was looking forward to it, and I thought ‘do your best,'” McAuley said. “When I was running something in me said ‘keep going.’ I fell in love with it. When I started competing and seeing what I can do when I train, it inspired me so much.”

From then on McAuley has been running and is now a member of the Huskies’ cross country and track and field teams.

As a freshman, McAuley has already made an impact on her team, most recently taking fourth place in the 5000-meter run at the Huskie Open.

“Claire is really dedicated,” said fellow freshman and teammate Nora Ferguson. “She brings what she’s learned from Scotland – and what her coaches taught her – to the team. It’s a new idea. She’s really motivated.”

McAuley and Ferguson said they are really good friends, having gotten to know one another by living on the same floor of their residence hall and training together.

“She’s a really good friend of mine, and we push off of each other,” Ferguson said. “In workouts if one of us isn’t feeling very well, the other one…keeps the other one going and pushing her, pushing times faster.”

McAuley said she has had to make adjustments to living and training in another country, but has been able to alter to her surroundings. One of the main adjustments was running in the DeKalb weather.

“I’m red-head, pale skin, so I suffered a lot with the weather,” McAuley said. “It took me a good month-and-a-half to adjust to this hot weather. Trying to keep myself hydrated. Just little things that I didn’t have to worry about in Scotland. Here I have to take extra preparation, like putting on sunscreen before I go out.”

Once the fall weather arrived, running became easier, as did the school work.

“I did struggle the first couple of months, especially with school work as well,” McAuley said. “I was missing home. It was hard, but the one thing that got me through it was my running. I’m here, I’ve got my running and I have the chance of a lifetime here in America so I need to make the most of it.”