May 3, 2024

While Tulane University middle distance runner Abby Heck’s home address has changed frequently in her young life, two things have remained constant: her love of running and her passion for the environment and climate action. That is why EcoAthletes founder and CEO Lew Blaustein is ecstatic that she accepted his invitation to become a Champion.

“Abby brings two very valuable qualities to the EcoAthletes Champions roster,” Blaustein observed. “Tenacity — as she’s faced and overcome significant injury obstacles — and curiosity, in her constant drive to figure out how to maximize her climate influence.”

Heck’s circuitous journey took her from Kansas to Texas, from Georgia to Ohio, before she and her family moved to Geneva, Switzerland when she was in middle school.

“It was in Geneva where I began to run with a running club, starting with 5Ks,” she recalled. “The countryside was so beautiful; it was amazing! We moved back to the states — to Cincinnati — when I was a sophomore at the Seven Hills high school, and I joined the cross country and track squads. I loved both the individual aspect, that there is no one else to blame but yourself, and the team component, where I could teach and be an example to others on how to be their best. I think I did that in high school because I was terrible when I started in cross-country, but then I put in the work and was able to cut my times consistently.” 

She cut almost 10 minutes off her 5K cross-country time, from 29:50 to 19:59, between her sophomore and senior years in high school. That took her from 58th place to the top in her conference. And her individual title rubbed off on the team, as they won their first championship in 22 years. Yet despite her marked improvement, Heck was told she was not Division I cross-country or track material.

“People said I wouldn’t be able to run at a high level in college because I started competing relatively late,” shared Heck. “And you know what? You hear something repeated enough times; you start to believe it. But then I decided I wanted to prove them wrong. The problem was that I lost a good chunk of my recruiting season to COVID. I had to reach out to coaches to try to find a scholarship but got rejected. So, I decided I would choose a school that was right for me academically as I was a student first, then reach out to the coach and walk on.”

Passionate about the environment from childhood, Heck had decided she would major in environmental biology and minor in marine biology and economics. She got into New Orleans-based Tulane which is strong in both disciplines and is a solid D-I track program as well.

“I walked on and the coach said, ‘your times are slow but I’ll work with you’,” she related. “Then he got let go just before my freshman year started. Luckily, his replacement, Coach Adrian Myers, believed in me from the beginning.”

Heck rewarded the coach’s confidence by earning a starting berth in the cross-country lineup as a freshman. And while she missed the indoor track season with an injury, she delivered a strong outdoor campaign, winning a 400-meter race, and improving her time in the 800 from 2:31 in high school to 2:18 at the prestigious Carl Lewis Invitational in Houston. And then she built on that solid foundation with a strong sophomore year on the track.

“The 800, which I love because it mixes endurance with ‘fast twitch’, and because you have the time to work through challenges and change tactics, became my focus. I improved my indoor time significantly and then ran personal bests in the 800 and 400 outdoors.”

As she started junior season last fall, she was ready to transition into a leadership role within the team and was hoping to earn podium finishes in the American Athletic Conference 800 and medley relays. But injuries and illness put a halt to those plans.

“It’s been a challenging year to say the least as I have been running with a chronic tonsil infection along with several complications that come with it,” acknowledged Heck. “I still managed to compete for the majority of my indoor season, running new personal bests in the 400 and 600 meters, but it was clear to me that I was running close to 80 percent of my health at best. After the conference championship, it became clear I had to have a tonsillectomy. Because of the long recover process, I was unable to compete in my junior outdoor track season. Now I’m focused on returning for a full track season for my senior year when I will give it my all!”

Heck literally dives into her environmental studies with the same passion that she brings to the track.

“I want to focus on marine biology — in particular on shark, sting rays, and turtle conservation — after I’m done with college,” she asserted. “I’ve earned advanced certification in scuba diving; this will allow me to examine the animals up close. And that will help me make a difference on conservation policy.”

While she does not have any dives planned since she is recovering from surgery, Heck is excited to have recently joined a lab at Tulane.

“We are investigating phylogenetic relationships — how closely related different species are — of freshwater fish in Kenya using genetic barcoding,” she said. “I will be traveling to Kenya with this lab in June and am very grateful for the opportunity.”

While Heck understands that marine ecosystem health, human health, and climate change are intimately linked, she wants to learn more about the latter.

“I took a fascinating Global Change Biology course,” she said. “It dove into climate change and its impacts on tropical disease, disease vectors, animal range shifts, and coral reef bleaching. We have to work to fix these problems and I want to be part of it.”

Becoming an EcoAthletes Champion and being part of the #ClimateComeback is a natural next step for Heck.

“I was looking for an organization that connects running, nature, and marine wildlife but found nothing,” she remembered. “Then one of our assistant coaches told me about EcoAthletes and I was hooked. Helping us use our platforms as student-athletes to drive climate action is so important. I am all in!”

You can follow Abby on Instagram