Byrum to continue winter sports career at Paul Smith's College

Apr. 4—Caston senior Edison Byrum is headed to the mountains of New York State to continue his athletic career.

Byrum has signed to compete in cross country and cross-country skiing with Paul Smith's College in Paul Smiths, New York.

Paul Smith's is also known as the College of the Adirondacks. It's located in northern New York near the Canadian border.

Byrum said he chose the school because it has one of the best winter sports programs in the nation. He will be training and likely working at Lake Placid, the site of the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980.

"I'm really excited for it. I think it's a great opportunity for my sport in general if I want to pursue that more, I can certainly do that," he said. "But it's also a great for what I want to study. Being right there for the 1980 Olympic venue, they've put a lot of money into it and it's really nice there, great training facilities 20 minutes from the college. They use that for training a lot. It's a great school, a lot of snow, a lot more than Indiana, that's for sure.

"I've got great opportunities to get into volunteering and finding a job there while I'm getting an education in sports management and help host events at Lake Placid."

Byrum has previously been featured in the Pharos-Tribune for his interest and involvement in winter sports. He has a particular interest in the biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and precision marksmanship in shooting.

He said he chose Paul Smith's "for cross-country skiing and biathlon mainly, that's my main focus. Biathlon in general just because I find that more enjoyable. Shooting targets is fun and going in and resting your heart rate, it's a challenge. That's what's different between cross-country skiing and biathlon is you're looking for an extra challenge that you don't have when you're cross-country skiing where you're just going really hard and as fast as you can where biathlon is really mental and it's also physical like cross-country skiing."

He fascination with winter sports and cross-country skiing started when the U.S. team took the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, China.

The next winter he began his mission of excelling in the sport. Being from Indiana has been an extra challenge, he said. He believes he's the only athlete from Indiana in Paul Smith's winter sports program.

"I think I'm the only one as far as I know," he said. "I started in the eighth grade. I watched the Olympics that one year and watched Jessie Diggins win the gold for the US and it was the first gold that the United States has ever won in cross-country skiing which I thought was really cool. My eighth grade year I got on some cross-country skis and we went up to our first competition in Duluth, Minnesota and it was a tour. If you get so many points you go onto Junior Nationals. That was just a great experience my first year.

"It's really tough mentally because every year my first time on snow is going to be a race and pretty much it's like that every time. The only time I'm practicing is on snow for races. I show a lot of potential, I think, going to Paul Smith's and I think that's what drew the coach into recruiting me over there."

Byrum, the son of Roger and Karen Byrum of Twelve Mile, has put in the hard work, whether it's dry land training in Indiana or going on the road to compete in biathlon events.

He was the top cross country runner at Caston this year and will compete in that sport at Paul Smith's in the fall. He's the Comets' starting left fielder in baseball this spring.

"There might be some talent in there and some athleticism, but it was definitely hard work that got me where I am because it's a big grind coming from Indiana and competing with these athletes that are always training on snow, practicing on snow when they can," he said. "And I'm roller skating, which is kind of similar, it's just dry land training, but I put in the hours and it shows. I think that's what helps me get to Junior Nationals last year in Fairbanks, Alaska. I didn't make it this year just because I was pretty busy with senior stuff and trying to get through it. But yeah, it's great, I'm enjoying it."

He found the perfect place at Paul Smith's to pursue his passion.

"This is the only school in the nation I think that offers a scholarship for biathlon. It is a very competitive school out east," he said. "They just won their conference and they're competing right now in US Biathlon Nationals. Biathlon has been taking off. My freshman, sophomore year it wasn't a collegiate sport just yet just because how the rifle is not NCAA regulated. But now it's taking off and they're actually having legitimate collegiate competitions for it.

"Sometimes I'll go with the biathlon team but there won't be as many competitions. They'll have the World Junior Trials at the end of December near Christmas and then there's the World University Games which is around every two years. Last year they had it at Lake Placid. Next year, my upcoming freshman year, it's going to be at Milan, Italy, so we'll see. It all depends on GPA and how well you do. Coming in as a freshman with all the other skiiers and biathletes, it's going to be different."

Byrum still has a dream of one day competing in the Winter Olympics for the United States.

"That's definitely the ultimate goal. There's different teams. I'm going to learn a ton just because I haven't had a team to work with," he said. "I've been working by myself for the last four or five years. I've met a ton of people which has been very helpful. I've met people from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, they've all helped me and kind of took me in as part of their team. But it's just not the same when you don't have them all the time and you're only working with them once every other week, maybe once a month. That's why I think I'm going to show a ton of improvement this next year just because I have that team camaraderie and a coach that's there with me, not online, and being able to give me pointers, and I'll have people to work out with and compete against which is going to be a big step up from what I have now."

He's looking forward to his dreams becoming reality at Paul Smith's.

"It's just a great environment. It's surrounded by wilderness and woods and mountains. I'm going to love it," he said.