David Kilgore is the oldest athlete on Florida’s cross country team, but he must feel like the youngest.
The redshirt junior shares a birthday with senior Jimmy Clark on Nov. 21, and Eddie Garcia was born the day before on the 20th — except David was born a year before both of them, in 1991.
He’ll turn 23 the day before the Gators travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championship.
But that’s awhile from now.
For now, Kilgore is just relieved to have gotten his first race as a Gator out of the way – a third place finish at the Western Carolina Invitational on Aug. 29.
A reserve runner for two years with the 2013 National Champion Colorado Buffaloes, Kilgore transferred to UF this year in an attempt to reignite a collegiate career that saw flashes of greatness in practice and several meets.
But David never truly felt as comfortable out west as he did in his home state of Florida.
"I did realize when I was out there how much I wanted to come back to Florida," Kilgore said. "I realized how much I love Florida."
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David moved to Palm Bay, Fla., when he was just 4 years old. His parents, Kevin and Dorothy, lived in Lakenheath, a village in Suffolk, England.
But Florida is really the only place he can remember.
Slated with an illustrious high school career — one that had him named Florida 1A State Champion in 2010, win a FHSAA state championship in 2008 and finish on three runner-up teams — David headed out west to run at Colorado, which is consistently a cross country powerhouse behind 19-year head coach Mark Wetmore.
David was "running with the Buffaloes," a motto so prevalent in the Colorado program that Wetmore named his season-detailing book after it.
He was so excited to join the top team in the country, he posted a selfie of himself in a black and gold Buffalo shirt to announce his decision.
But David would redshirt his freshman year in 2011.
It wasn’t where he thought he would be, but he knew he could grow in the program and only get better as a runner.
"I definitely improved," Kilgore said. "I wouldn’t say I regret it, because I learned a lot, but it’s certainly mixed feelings."
The following year, David would run two races as a reserve runner for the Buffaloes.
In his first collegiate race, he finished 23rd in the Rocky Mountain Shootout.
"We ran a home meet and everyone on the team does that," Kilgore said. He was just thankful for the opportunity, even if he knew he could do more.
He would string together weeks of great practices, and showed the potential and endurance that made Colorado assistant coach Billy Nelson so adamant that Kilgore was right for the program.
Weeks later, Kilgore would lead all Colorado runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, where he would finish 10th.
Things were looking up.
After track season the following semester, David was hoping to make the team as a consistent member of the rotation, rather than a reserve runner. He showed in practice that he had the speed and endurance to be an integral cog in the cross country machine that is the Colorado Buffaloes.
However, when the 2013 season rolled around, David again found himself a reserve runner on the team that would go on to win the National Championship.
Despite his dejection, David continued to train and improve. He helped Colorado qualify for the National Championship by finishing eighth in the Pre-National Invitational 8k.
"It was difficult because I really saw myself improving, but I don’t have any regrets," Kilgore said.
But when David committed to elevated Colorado over flat Florida, he had no idea that he would have difficulty breathing in the high altitude.
Boulder, which sits a cool mile above sea level, can give people breathing difficulties. Respiration is shortened, often inducing coughing and tightness in the chest. These symptoms aren’t ideal for a sport that requires absolute control of your breathing mechanisms.
The altitude made it nearly impossible for David to run at the high-level he had performed at in high school, and it made running nearly unbearable at times.
As hard as he trained, he couldn’t overcome the problems that the elevation presented him. It seemed like he would either finish his career in mediocrity with Colorado, transfer to another program or quit the sport he loved.
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It was difficult to leave, to admit you might have made the wrong decision when you chose your college destination.
It felt right for David at the time — he had no way of knowing how his lungs would react. He loved his coaches, had made friends and was engaged to a fellow runner on the women’s Colorado cross country team, Annie Kelly.
It took an immense amount of strength for David to leave all the things he had come to love and cherish during his time in college.
But if he wanted to be able to run comfortably and compete in what he loved, it seemed like he had no choice but to pack up and go home.
UF coach Paul Spangler had a plan to build David’s endurance and speed using an exhaustive training regimen.
"He’s an interesting phenom in a sense, where it’s very rare that an athlete doesn’t react well to altitude," Spangler said. "He brings leadership to the group, he’s an extremely hard worker, and no doubt that will rub off on this large freshman class."
That leadership role is something David hopes to take a hold of. He’s working hard, trying to improve on the strides he made during his three years in Boulder.
The third-place finish last month was impressive, especially because David spent most of his time as a long-distance runner.
"From what I’ve been told, I do better at long distances," Kilgore said. "I’d prefer an 8k or a 10k."
Although he hasn’t run a 10k in his collegiate career, the endurance workouts Spangler has been putting Kilgore through have brought forth a confidence that may have been missing outside the sunny state of Florida.
"He’s a workhorse," Spangler said. "He comes to practice everyday, and whenever someone comes from another program they’re kind of set in a system. And he’s really come in and embraced our system and really done a phenomenal job, and having Mark (Parrish), Jimmy (Clark) and Eddie (Garcia) be the same age as him and have similar ability has really benefitted him, so he comes to practice everyday and wants to work hard and gets in those workouts and competes with those guys."
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On Saturday, David will compete on UF’s Mark Bostick Golf Course for the Mountain Dew Invitational, his first time racing in his home state since he left in 2010. It’s a relieving feeling to come home.
But he’s not regretting the past – just learning from it.
"If I had never left Florida, I would have always regretted not experiencing that," Kilgore said.
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
David Kilgore races in the 2013 Pac-12 Cross Country Cahmpionships in Louisville, Colo.
