Ian Latella

CANCER ONLY MADE HIM STRONGER

Now recovered, harrier Ian Latella is running faster than ever

Ian Latella was having a great freshman year. He had been a good runner in high school, but always buckled under pressure. But with a new training attitude taught by Dana’s Coach Jay Birmingham, Latella was on his way to being a great collegiate runner. He qualified for both the cross country and track national championships his freshman year.

But a week after completing his first national marathon competition, Latella found the lump. It was the end of his great freshman year, but definitely not the end of a great running career.

Latella returned to Dana his sophomore year (2001) while undergoing chemotherapy treatments for testicular cancer. He went to every class and every cross country practice he could. It wasn’t easy. Latella couldn’t remember a time when anything under 15 miles was a problem for him. The treatments eventually left him so weak, he couldn’t make it a mile before having to slow to a walk.

“It made me realize how important running really is to me,” he said. “It was so hard watching everybody else run.”

To make matters worse, the men’s cross country team was having one of their worst seasons in recent history. Besides Latella’s illness, the team was dealing with several injuries and the loss of leadership from graduation. Knowing the team needed him — and that he couldn’t help — was one of the worst things for Latella.

The Red Oak, Iowa, native never thought for one instance that he wouldn’t get well. It’s an attitude his mother, a nurse, said was instrumental to his quick recovery, and teammate Derek Fey said was an inspiration to the struggling team.

“Everyone saw that Ian was fighting back,” Fey said. “If that hadn’t happened, last year’s team would be a complete loss.”

By the following track season, Latella was cancer-free and pushing himself to regain his old strength.

“It was frustrating,” he said. “I knew with a lot of time I could get back, but it was slow.”

Now in his junior year, Latella is stronger than ever. He had an outstanding cross country season this fall, finishing 197th in the country after qualifying for Nationals with a similarly recovered men’s cross country team.

Latella has also already qualified for the marathon at the NAIA Track Nationals this May and stands a very good chance of qualifying in other events, especially the steeplechase.

“I thought of cancer as another hill to climb,” he said. “Now I’m definitely stronger than I was.”

Dana Review

Winter 2003

Fall 2002