Shy and quiet off the playing field, Donna Vakalis is anything but when she is on it. Whether at a cross-country meet, a fencing hall, in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, show jumping an equestrian course, or taking aim at the shooting range, her talent speaks volumes.

As an athlete in the modern pentathlon, Vakalis must fence, freestyle swim, pistol shoot, show jump on horseback, and cross-country run. The last she does as a member of U of T Cross-Country, and while she barely had a running career before joining the Blues, her hard work has immediately made her a potential Olympian.

During the 2006 Canadian Modern Pentathlon National Women’s Championship over the summer, Donna Vakalis clinched third place, finishing with a score of 5248.

“In the process of building up myself to having a career in this, I was very surprised to have done so well,” she said. “The competition was tight. I placed third, but I came very close to being second.

“If you were to compare how close I was in points to a track race, it would be mere seconds apart.”

She was the top swimmer at the championships, and placed second in the run. After this past year with the Blues, where she placed eighth at the Ontario University Athletic Championship on October 28, she plans on improving that mark.

With the Ontario Modern Pentathlon Association conducting a mini-meet this Saturday, Vakalis is expecting to compete-and win.

“One of my biggest goals is to improve my quality and efficiency of play, so I can go to the Pan-American games [happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2007] and come back with a medal,” Vakalis said.

To help her in attaining that goal, she joined the Blues Cross-Country team, coached by Ross Ristuccia.

“I eventually was put in touch with Ross, who is really well known and respected by the track and cross-country programs,” Vakalis said.

Once on the team, she demonstrated a winning character and superior talent.

“She is a shy individual with a quiet sense of humour, but once she is on a cross-country course she loses all her shyness and goes all-out,” Ristuccia said. “She is a relative newcomer to running at the varsity level. This is only her second year of competition, but she has been an OUA All-Star both years.”

Her skills have been coming together under Ristuccia’s guidance, and she continues to work on the many aspects of her craft, careful to have fun while doing it.

“As I see it, I excel at the parts that I enjoy the most and it is just a reflection of where I am right now,” she said. “I was adverse to fencing when I was younger, but I love riding horses. If anything, I am not a really strong shooter.”

She credits much of her progress to her teammates at U of T.

“A lot of my colleagues are around my age,” Vakalis said. “I have found that who you train with makes a world of difference. These people are a group of healthy, strong individuals. And when I say that, I mean that they are healthy and strong mentally as well as physically.”

Those strong, healthy people have included Vakalis’ former cross country teammate Beth Wightman, who claimed the OUA individual title in 2005 with a time of 17:17.38, and Megan Brown, who recently claimed top spot at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championship Meet Saturday at 17:10.5.

Being in the midst of great athletes is paying dividends for the studious Vakalis.

“When I think about structuring my goals, I keep in mind that I am a student-athlete and not an athlete who is a student,” she said. “The challenge to compete with those athletes who are students causes a lot of wear and tear on me physically and mentally during the year, but it’s worth it.”

Her other goal has universal appeal, as she hopes that with success she will be able to raise the profile of the modern pentathlon in the public eye.

“I really want the [modern pentathlon] community to grow, and for the public to foster the sport and those who compete in it,” Vakalis said. “The great thing about the community, compared to others, is that it’s small enough so that everyone knows each other and can interact more personally.”

With the lessons she has learned at U of T so far, Vakalis’s personal progress is garnering attention and helping her achieve her goals.