Steve LaDelfa is a senior captain on the men’s track and field team. Steve is from Rochester, N.Y. and is majoring in chemical engineering.

Ben Yavitt: Welcome, Steve. This is the last edition of the Spartan Spotlight this year. I hope we saved the best for last. Let’s start off. How long have you been running?

Steve LaDelfa: Six years.

BY: Decent. What inspired you to start running?

SL: The idea of running around in circles and ending up exactly at the same place you started seemed like a great idea six years ago….

BY: And yet you are still going. Do you have any hobbies or extracurricular activities?

SL: Running around in a banana suit, doing Da Squid, playing FIFA, eating quesadillas, and pretending I’m good at guitar.

BY: All in a day’s work. Who is your favorite athlete?

SL: Peter Walls. He wrestled a bear once, and he won. You can’t get dirtier than that. And ladies, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, he is single and ready to mingle.

BY: Can I get his number? I need protection from the bears. Do you have any athletic honors?

SL: I almost beat Chris Kelly in a 105 meter race. My second best athletic honor was making the USA Olympic team in Tiddlywinks, but then I got caught taking steroids.

BY: Ouch. Any academic honors?

SL: I got a C once. I was real proud of myself.

BY: I think you deserve a gold star for that one. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

SL: Either on the cover of Playgirl or working at Valentino’s Pizzeria, maybe doing both…at the same damn time!

BY: At the same damn time! What is your best running memory?

SL: At the Calvin Invitational my sophomore year, coach brought me to a travel meet with the big boys, I was real nervous. I promised coach that I was gonna do good, but I wasn’t sure I could back it up. We wrote quotes on our arms. I had JUST DO IT on mine. It worked. I ended up running real well, I broke 29:00 for the 8k. Coach practically tackled me afterwards. It was legit.

BY: Going the distance. What is your favorite quote?

SL: I have 2 favorites, “If you ain’t livin’ life, what you doin?” and “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” I can’t remember if I heard this from Jim Mather or Allen Li, so I’m gonna give them both credit.

BY: For sure, words to live by. What makes track stand out from other sports?

SL: There is no element of controversial refereeing. It’s purely who crosses the finish line first. So I guess it’s more black and white in that sense. I kinda like that sometimes, less up to interpretation so less arguing.

BY: A true test of skills. If you could invite 3 people to dinner, who would they be and why?

SL: Danilo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets, so he can show me some basketball moves, Ralph Waldo Emerson cause I bet he was real smooth with the ladies and threw quality parties, and the rapper Big Bear cause he’s always doin’ thangs. If you haven’t checked out his album, you should. It’s real raunchy and it just recently got platinum status.

BY: Big Bear is flying off the shelves. Get it while it’s hot! If they made a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?

SL: Sylvester Stallone for sure, no one else has biceps big enough. If they can’t get him, my brother could do the job.

BY: He is too busy filming the new Expendables movie, and then the one after that, then the one after that… If you could be a girl for a day, what would you do?

SL: Even though it’d be nice to speed on the highway and not get a ticket, there is no way I’d be a girl, even for a day. I don’t do drama.

BY: Yeah, it’s not worth it. If you could participate in any other sport, which would it be and why?

SL: Slamball. Not only do you get to jump on trampolines, but you get to dunk basketballs. What’s better than that?

BY: Jumping on pogo sticks on trampolines while dunking basketballs. What would we find in your locker right now that might surprise us?

SL: A Kan Jam set, a boombox, and a ton of skin lube.

BY: That’s where my skin lube went… What is one thing most people don’t know about track?

SL: You can’t take a time off, especially during season. You have to constantly be training or else you lose what endurance you had. If you’re injured, you cross train in the pool or on a bike. There is no offseason. It’s always game time.

BY: That’s good. I just checked my watch, and it said “Game Time”. What goes through your mind during a race?

SL: “No pain, no gain.” A lot of times I try to focus on a song that gets me pumped up, usually Justin Bieber or occasionally Beyonce.

BY: Try the Jonas Brothers. They always get me pumped up. Finish the sentence: Track is like a girl…

SL: Because even if you beat them on the course, they’ll beat you off.

BY: Classy. Who is the best athlete you have ever competed with and why?

SL: Chris Kelly. His passion for running is unparalleled to anyone I’ve ever met. He is so focused and dedicated to doing his best, his attitude is contagious.

BY: True that. Any insights on how the season is going so far?

SL: Going great, the conference meet is this weekend at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and hopefully we get it done and qualify some people to Nationals. I’m hoping we get a ton of people to qualify for Nationals since it’s in California this year, and it’d be a classic to road-trip.

BY: Great, Steve. Thanks and good luck!

SL: Thanks Ben, pound it, lock it, put the chain on it!