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DECAMPING FOR OXFORD IN 2006, THIS RHODES scholar, a math and physics double major, had every inten- tion of leaving athletics behind. A longtime competitive cross-country skier, Crocker wanted to focus on her gradu- ate work in astrophysics—she’s now an assistant physics professor at Reed College—thinking that she would run merely to stay in shape. It was only a few months before the competition bug bit her again. Through a friend Crocker rediscovered orienteering, a sport she had tried in boarding school. Developed in Sweden as a form of military training, orienteering is a timed footrace through the woods, where competitors armed with maps and compasses must hit specified checkpoints.

“You’re not going on trails,” Crocker says, “you’re jumping over logs, you’re dodging trees, you’re avoiding lakes because you can see them on the map.” In many ways it works much like her research in the lab, studying star formations in nearby galaxies. Orienteering, like astrophysics, requires “thinking about 2D representations of 3D space,” she says.

Although the demands of academia limit her most rigorous training to weekends, Crocker has represented the United States in five world championship events and won multiple U.S. Orienteering Championship medals in both foot-and ski-orienteering. She is looking forward to returning to Hanover in September 2016 when the College hosts the North American Orienteering Championships. “I thought my athlete days would end after college,” she laughs. “I can’t believe I’m still doing this.”

Crocker placed 15th in the world championships in August, the best U.S. finish ever. >>>>