UH Hilo’s Langbehn nurses a full schedule

The 1,392-page textbook “Fundamentals of Nursing” is what passes for light bedtime reading these days.

Naps are for other people and “free time” is a concept so elusive as to be looked up in a dictionary and late-night hotel lobby study vigils (so not as to awaken roommates) are becoming routine.

Welcome to the non-stop world of Meghan Langbehn, or as University of Hawaii-Hilo coaches and teammates call her, their “Wonder Woman.”

These days Langbehn mostly wonders how she came to play two sports, soccer and cross country, for the Vulcans in the same season while tackling the academic rigors of a nursing major.

If she has an idle moment Saturday between representing the Vulcans in a cross country meet in Kahuku and a soccer match in Waipahu — the fourth time she will go back-to-back this semester so far — while toting her textbooks, she may ponder the recurring question.

“People tell me I’m crazy,” Langbehn said matter-of-factly.

The people telling her that are some of those closest to her, friends, teammates, athletic officials and even her own parents. Not that there are times that she fails to nod in agreement. After all, she went into a meeting with advisers questioning whether she could continue to play soccer amid the demands of the nursing program and the next thing she knew she had added cross country to her to-do list, a sport she had no previous experience with.

But she said she comes back to three basic truths, “I like the challenges, I like to compete and I want to be a good teammate.”

Athletic director Patrick Guillen said, “Meghan is one of those truly special student-athletes that come around maybe just a few times during your career. But what she is accomplishing is truly unique, playing two sports during the same season and working in the nursing program at the same time. Frequently, our athletes in the nursing program may red-shirt their junior year because of all the lab work, but Meghan is taking it to another level by also taking on another sport — and doing both well.”

Originally the Folsom, Calif., native chose to attend Hilo, sight unseen, on a soccer scholarship. She asked the recruiter if the Vulcans had a nursing school and, told that they did, Langbehn said she concluded, “the opportunity to play soccer in Hawaii and get a degree in nursing was something I couldn’t turn down.”

After two years as a starting defender, Langbehn said she was concerned that it might be too arduous to continue once she started nursing lab work. She was told that only one other athlete, a cross country participant had made it work.

In light of her 3.5 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), school and athletic officials agreed to work with her on balancing nursing and soccer, if she was up to the challenge.

Then cross country coach Jaime Guerpo, when he heard about her times in physical fitness testing, was intrigued about the possibilities. Likewise, she was unable to resist helping out cross country’s depleted roster.

But as a captain of the soccer team, she didn’t feel like she could abandon those teammates, so she chose to attempt both, at least through the first two races of the year.

“Well, it ended up turning into more races,” Langbehn said as she continued to set personal bests. “I won’t deny that, in the back of my mind, there were times when I thought about quitting. But I couldn’t quit.”

Guerpo said, “If there is one word to describe Meghan it is ‘dedication’ to what she is doing. She has been a spark to our team.”

In one moment of fatigue and frustration Langbehn had exclaimed, “‘I’m not Wonder Woman.” But, before she knew it, ‘Wonder Woman” had become her nickname. Now, she says, “it gets me going, it motivates me. I love that.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.