Quick Chat: Jessica Drop

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Jessica Drop earned a spot in the NCAA women's cross country championships with a third-place finish at last Friday's NCAA South Regional in Tallahassee, Fla. The Georgia junior will compete in her fourth straight NCAAs, including track and cross country, on Saturday in Madison, Wis., where the temperature will be around 30 degrees.

Before she hit the road, Drop sat down for a Quick Chat on a cold and rainy Wednesday afternoon, conditions she and her twin sister, Samantha Drop, are quite used to, having grown up in Durham, Conn. Drop talked about Thanksgiving, twins, training runs, not racing with Samantha this fall and much more.

Here's some of what she had to say:

Frierson: As we sit down together on a wet and cold Wednesday afternoon — it was 47 degrees out, last time I checked — what's it like doing the running that you do in cold weather?

Drop: Me and my sister always say, under 32 (degrees) all feels the same to us, it's just cold (laughs).

Frierson: Was Durham an interesting place to grow up?

Drop: It's a small town, so everyone knows everyone and nothing big ever happens. When my sister and I started doing bigger things and went to a big D-I school, that was probably the first time that's ever happened in our high school. It was a bigger deal than it probably would be at most high schools.

Frierson: Can everybody in Durham tell you two apart?

Drop: By the time we got to high school, yeah, because we'd gone through the grades all together and everyone knows everyone, so they learned.

Frierson: For as long as you have been running races, Sam has been right there beside you to one extent or another. As this fall winds down, a fall when Sam had to redshirt, what has it been like being more on your own? Has it been different?

Drop: It is kind of different because this is the first cross country season I've done without her. It's always been that cross country is her season and track is my season, so it's kind of weird that I was doing it without her because it was always her thing. She's always been smarter at it, better at it, she enjoyed it, I've never enjoyed cross country, so I kind of had to take it for the both of us.

Frierson: Do you enjoy it more because you're running so well or is it just always going to be a thing where you'd much, much rather be on the track?

Drop: Oh, no, I still don't enjoy it (laughs). It's just always been harder and because I'm not comfortable with it, I've only been doing it for three years now; track's just always been more comfortable for me.

People always say, "You run the 5K on the track." But that is so different (laughs).

Frierson: Looking down the road at your running career, would you like to move on to marathons one day? Would you like to run New York or Boston at some point?

Drop: I intend to stay on the track as long as I can, honestly, but once I get slow and can't do the track, I think I'll run a marathon or something. Sam really wants to, like, right after college start the longer distance stuff. I'm going to stick to the track and the 5K and 3K kind of stuff.

Frierson: When you're out for a training run, what are you thinking about?

Drop: I don't think about much when I'm running (laughs). People always say, you don't listen to music, but I'm kind of just enjoying the moment. I don't really think about much.

Usually I run with Sam but she hasn't been running this season, so I've been kind of alone sometimes, but I kind of enjoyed it, having my own time. Now I can enjoy more of our time together when we're not running. We have more to talk about at home because when we ran together we used to talk about everything during that. Now we have something to talk about during dinner.

Frierson: What is a Thanksgiving like at the Drop household? Is there something you're most looking forward to eating or doing?

Drop: We're actually going to go to our aunt's house this year to celebrate it and we haven't done that in a while, so I'm looking forward to that.

Frierson: Is there something specific you're looking forward to eating, a special family dish or tradition?

Drop: There is a special tradition and we actually brought it to our cross country Friendsgiving, it's our stuffing. It's the simplest recipe ever but everyone loves it. Grace [Tavani] loves it and was like, "I tried to have my mom make it and she couldn't get it right." It's literally the simplest thing but it's like a secret recipe — our grandfather hasn't written it down and we just watched him make it and learned how to make it that way.

We've tried to teach other people how to make it but we don't really know the actual amounts.

Frierson: If you could be great at any other sport for a day, just to experience it, what sport would it be?

Drop: Probably gymnastics. My best friends in high school were both really good gymnasts and they would do these tricks so easily and I'm just like, "How are you guys doing that?" They would stand there and do a backflip and (laughs) I can't even do a cartwheel.

Frierson: What's something about being a twin that most people either don't know or don't understand?

Drop: A big misconception is they always think we know what each other is thinking. We don't (laughs), there's no twin telepathy thing. The best thing about having a twin is always having a best friend, that's the greatest thing.

(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)

John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.

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