SE: Senior Nick Albus Reflects on Crazy Journey to K-State Track and Field

By Corbin McGuire

K-State track and field senior Nick Albus hears it once in a while at practice, the difference between his perspective and others'.

"It's just one of those days," someone might say.

"I'm just not feeling it," another teammate might throw out there.

Albus' reaction?

"Why, though?" K-State's fourth-year sprinter said, who's ran on three Big 12-scoring relay teams in his career. "I feel like to think you can't have days like that. You just have to go into every day happy to be up and around and doing things and be thankful you have all your limbs."

Along with his limbs, Albus is thankful to have fully-functioning organs. Specifically, his heart.

Albus was born with transposition of the great arteries, which meant the two main arteries in his heart were reversed. It's a rare condition, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 1,250 babies are born with it each year in the United States.

At three days old, Albus had his first heart surgery.

"I recovered, did great, started sports," Albus said, "and everything was great."

Until he could barely make it through a football workout between his sophomore and junior years. Albus' fatigue got to the point where the three-sport athlete was almost passing out after each summer conditioning session. He was baffled, unable to figure out why this kept happening. His parents, both coaches when he was growing up, were also unable to put a finger on it, too.

He returned to his cardiologist's office, where he went every year or two for routine check-ups, to figure it out. His usual cardiologist was not in at this appointment, so he saw a different doctor than normal. After explaining his symptoms, Albus said he was told he was probably dealing with severe dehydration.

"So, of course, I'm just pounding water. Like, (staying) super hydrated," he said of his response. "And I'm going to workouts and the same thing is going on."

So, Albus went back to the cardiologist again. This time, his regular doctor was in. He made Albus do a stress test. It sent up a red flag, which triggered a cardiac MRI, which showed a kink in one of his arteries, much like a hose, that was slowing down oxygen flow.

Another heart surgery was the only fix.

"I went through the surgery, recovered well," Albus said, "and, as soon as I was recovered enough to where I could start sports again, shoot, I was like a different person."

Football workouts became a breeze. He started lifting more and staying at the front of the pack of runs, even leading them sometimes.

"I was in the best shape of my life pretty quick," he said.

Before the surgery, Albus wanted nothing to do with anything beyond a 100-meter dash on the track. He said he looked helpless after running a 200, hunched over for unusual amounts of time.

After it, he started running on James Martin High School's 4x400-meter relay team. His times dropped from 1:00-plus to the low 50s. Paired with his all-state abilities in the 100-meter — he ran on a state champion 4x100 team that set the nation's top time that season — and Albus' dream of becoming a Division I student-athlete started to look realistic in a sport he did not expect.

"Shoot, I never even thought about track," Albus, who had a football-first mindset when it came to college athletics, said. "Football was my main sport, but then I got a call from K-State."

Albus, an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish, already knew of K-State when he got that phone call. Not long before, he ran into a K-State recruiting stand for the university's Wildlife and Outdoor Enterprise Management degree at the Dallas Safari Club Convention. It sounded like the perfect program for him.

"Before track, K-State was on my radar just for that. Then, when K-State called me for track, I was, like, 'Shoot, sounds like a perfect one-two combo right there,' so I jumped on it," he said. "It's worked out pretty solid."

Albus' times continued to drop at K-State, including in the low 48s in the 400 this season. This season, he anchored K-State's 4x400 team to a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championship.

On Saturday, Albus will run in at the Ward Haylett Invitational, his last home meet. He and the rest of K-State's seniors will be recognized for their careers and contributions as Wildcats. For Albus, it will be another step toward the end of an unlikely career, one he has never taken for granted.

Albus said he does not expect to get emotional as his time on the track winds to an end. But it will be missed, especially the preparation part.

"I'm sad to see it go. I enjoyed those early morning lifts and the early season workouts, those tough ones where everyone gets to grind together," he said. "Those are definitely the highlights of my year. We're all kind of split up now, doing our own thing, but early in the year everyone's grinding together, sweating, throwing up together. It's fun. I enjoy it. It's tough, but it's fun."

It's fun for Albus because he used to pass out by himself, while teammates, coaches and he wondered why he could not do more. Now, he can. So, he does, without even a thought of complaining.

"I think once (my surgery) was over and I realized how much easier it was to work out and to go running, the change I had was, like, 'This is what I've been missing out on,'" he said. "It sucks working out. It's tough, but not for a lot longer (than it used to), and it's not the same kind of suck. My high school coaches always told us from the beginning to embrace the suck. It's not going to be fun either way, whether you get first or last, so you might as well give it your all."

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Senior Nick Albus Reflects on Crazy Journey to K-State Track and Field

Players Mentioned

Nick Albus

Related Videos