Olivia Kerstetter’s New Balancing Act — College Life and CrossFit

In between the typical college experience, Kerstetter is training for next year’s CrossFit Games.

Last updated on October 30th, 2024

When I was in college, I was happy enough to wake up in time for my 7:40 a.m. statistics class after a late night out.

Our college careers could not have been any different.

Kerstetter is a freshman at the University of Arkansas this year, and with three CrossFit Games appearances under her belt (two in Teen and one in Individual), it was the first time in a long time that something felt brand new.

• When picking a college, this Shawnee, KS, native quickly chose the University of Arkansas, following in the footsteps of her two older sisters.

The family has a lake house near the school, and Kerstetter has been vacationing there since she was a kid.

• Kersetter describes the basics: “My major is exercise science. It made sense with CrossFit — the health and human body stuff. I don’t know exactly what I want to do with it yet, but something sports-related.”

She managed to squeeze in a lot of college-level classes before graduating high school to help ease the transition, but she couldn’t get away from everything.

• “I would say my prerequisites are all pretty easy, except one,” she laughed. “I’m in chemistry right now, and that’s really the thing that’s killing me.”

Kerstetter is taking 14 credits, rushing a sorority, and living on campus like a typical freshman. In between all of these college staples, she continues to train to return to the CrossFit Games.

Growing Pains

Finding a balance between school and CrossFit was difficult from the beginning.

Kerstetter moved into a smaller living situation with her own bedroom — but since she wasn’t living in a big dorm, she decided to rush a sorority to get involved and meet some new friends. Rewarding? Yes. Easy? Far from it.

• “I was so nervous. I didn’t know if I wanted to rush until the week before registration. I knew I wanted to do it, but just because of CrossFit, I didn’t know if I could do it,” she said.

Kerstetter continued: “One of my biggest regrets in high school was that I didn’t get involved in anything, and I wanted to change that in college.”

During the first few weeks, the demand for time was almost too much. Between classes, CrossFit, food prep, and taking care of herself, Kerstetter considered dropping out of the rush process.

But she made it work.

• “You just get used to it. You will adapt and figure out your routine and schedule naturally,” she said.

It wasn’t that simple, though. Kersetter no longer had the luxury of a short day at high school, living at home, and few responsibilities. It was all her now.

• “There were a few things that helped. I used to spend five hours at the gym when it just needed to take three — I would talk and mess around,” she said. “I must prioritize my time now, and I know I can fit all this into three hours if I keep moving and don’t mess around.”

Kerstetter’s sister lives nearby in Fayetteville and is finishing nursing school. Every weekend, she hosts Olivia so she can cook her meals for the week.

While adherence to a routine made things easier, Kerstetter also had to understand that things would never be perfect.

• “I had to accept that you’re going to be tired sometimes and get less sleep than you’re used to. Sometimes, I have to wake up early to work out before class or stay up late to do homework after training,” she said. “I’ve had to accept that I won’t always get my perfect sleep — small adjustments like that have made it much more manageable.”

Finding Her Rhythm

Once Kerstetter got comfortable with her new balancing act, she decided she was ready to jump back into competition.

The Crash Crucible was the perfect event to get her feet wet again. The prep for this event was different than Kerstetter had ever had to deal with.

• “I had to figure out how to miss class, and my training had been so different. I had to shorten it, squeeze it into smaller times, or completely rearrange my schedule,” she said. “Every day is different for me now. I didn’t know how not having a set routine would impact my fitness.”

Despite her schedule fluctuations and everyday college stress, Kersetter still has the fitness that got her to the CrossFit Games two years ago.

Her sixth-place overall finish at Crash wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but she did have four event finishes in the top five and saw the weekend as a massive learning opportunity.

• “It is encouraging to see that I’m still fit and getting better, even though there have been a lot of major life and training changes,” she explained. “One of the biggest things is that I work out alone now, so sometimes it’s hard to push yourself and show up when you’re all alone. So seeing that I’m still improving and getting better through all those changes was pretty encouraging.”

Kerstetter now trains at CrossFit Commence In Fayetteville. Although she feels at home in her new space, she misses her training partners in Kansas City: Jacob Heppner and Chris Ibarra.

Kerstetter and Ibarra trained together leading up to last year’s Semifinals.

• She giggled: “I visit way too often. Before Crash, I would just use it as an excuse and say, oh, I need to train for the weekend with a group. But now I don’t have that excuse. I miss working out with them; they’re my friends, too.”

Kersetter’s bond with Ibarra is strong. Both athletes competed at the West Coast Classic this year, battling for a ticket to the Games.

Ibarra got one, Kerstetter did not. Even though Kerstetter did not make it to the Games, to relished Ibarra’s success.

• “It’s been cool watching him as a rookie. I give him advice, and he actually listens to me sometimes!  He is crazy fit and works so hard, so it’s cool to see that hard work pay off. He will tell everyone that I’m the reason he made it to the Games; he wouldn’t have gotten there without me. I disagree. He works so hard – he would have found a way without me.”

The two are hopeful they will see the floor together next year at the Games, but until then, it is back to training on her own, most of the time.

This year, there is a new appreciation for what she had before moving to Arkansas.

• “Ever since coming to college, I realized how much training is so fun and enjoyable when I’m at home,” she said. “I look forward to training every day – we have so much fun there. It takes us way longer to get it all done, but it’s definitely worth it with the friendships I’ve made. We bond over suffering. I’m so lucky I was a part of that.”