O’Loughlin excited by his imminent move to Auburn

LOUIS O’Loughlin is relishing the prospect of going up against some of the top emerging athletes in the US when he lines out for Auburn University later this year.

The 20-year-old Clondalkin man is transferring from TU Dublin (Tallaght Campus) to Auburn in Alabama in August and will race for the Tigers in the fiercely competitive Southeastern Conference.

O’Loughlin, while having been focusing on the 800m in recent times, did capture silver in the National Senior Indoor Championships 1500m back in February, and he believes the team at Auburn will help him determine is ideal distance and fulfil his potential.

“I went on an official visit there and I ended up picking Auburn,” explained O’Loughlin.

“It’s a beautiful place. I just felt really at home there, it’s a very warm and welcoming place.

“I’ve met the coach already, Aaron Kindt. He’s the middle-distance/distance head coach and he brought me under his wing for the two days I was on the visit.

“The Conference that I’ll be competing in is the Southeastern Conference where you have the likes of Ole Miss’ and colleges like that.

“It’s probably the hardest conference in all of America.

“Even being in that environment, you’ll be able to train like a professional athlete every day and I’m looking forward to it. You’ll be competing in the top tier every time.

“I do feel I have a lot more potential in 1500m. My times are quite slow, but that’s because I’ve basically been just jogging them and then sprinting the last 200m.

“But if I was to go out hard from the start, I’d probably crack a really good time.

“My PB is 3.54. It’s not great at all when you look at the likes of Andrew Coscoran who’s running the likes of 3.35.

“But I really feel I can get that down to 3.41/3.42. I’m still young as well.

“They’ll know over there [in Auburn]. They’ll see how your body reacts to different types of training. There’s loads of science behind what they do, so it really is fascinating.

“When I was first getting recruited by the colleges, they knew that I came from a cross country background, so it maybe does make sense to be stepping up the distances,” he told The Echo.

O’Loughlin will be making the move to the US on the back of an encouraging year so far that will see him contest a number of domestic and overseas events before his transfer.

“I have a couple of races abroad coming up, so hopefully I can crack a few good times,” he continued.

“There’s a meet in Belgium and then one in Watford in June that I was planning to go to and I’ll be going for the 800m in those.

“I also have the Nationals for my own age, the Nationals for the seniors and the Morton Games which is a big one too.

“My indoor season went very well. I kind of surprised myself. I finished second in the National Senior 1500m

“I’ve enjoyed racing here and training has been going great for me, but I feel like a change of environment will help me even more.

“I want to give myself the best opportunity to make the Olympics.

“That is the Number One goal and if I compete in that right environment I feel like I can make it” he insisted.