CWU Health Sciences master’s recipient brings home President’s Cup

One of the main reasons Nathan Herde felt drawn to Central Washington University for his graduate studies was the research taking place in the Department of Health Sciences.

Herde became familiar with the work of Professors Robert and Kelly Pritchett as an exercise science undergrad in Oregon, and he saw an opportunity to conduct some influential research of his own at Central.

After spending the past two years learning from CWU’s award-winning faculty, he is doing exactly that.

The recent Integrative Human Physiology master’s graduate was invited to present his thesis research at the Northwest Regional American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conference in early April, walking away with the coveted President’s Cup.

In the process, he earned an invitation to present his work alongside seven other master’s and doctoral students at the ACSM national conference May 26-29 in Salt Lake City.

“I was really well prepared, and I went into it feeling pretty confident,” Herde said, adding that he was the last of the five regional finalists to present. “There was a moment during my presentation where I remember thinking to myself, ‘OK, this is pretty good.’”

While the field of play was far different than what he was accustomed to as a student-athlete at Linfield College, he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“As a former athlete, I have kind of missed the competition aspect,” said Herde, who swam for five years and ran track for one year at Linfield. “It was the first time I had ever competed in an academic setting, but I wasn’t too nervous. Once I started talking, I felt like I was in the zone.”

It also helped that he felt emotionally invested in the research after exploring the topic of running resiliency for the past 18 months.

Guided by his mentor, CWU Professor Dr. Robert Pritchett, Herde sought to gain a better understanding of runners' durability over 90-minutes intervals and the differences between male and female athletes pertaining to endurance and recovery.

“Before our study, there hadn’t really been much research comparing the two genders,” he said. “Females were fairly underrepresented, so we decided to take a closer look. And what we have found so far is that there isn’t much of a difference between men and women.”

The CWU research team first started looking into the phenomena in December 2024, shortly after Herde arrived in Ellensburg. They laid the groundwork for the project over the next few months and then conducted pilot testing sessions last summer before starting to collect usable data in the fall.

Those findings became the abstract for Herde’s presentation at the ACSM regional conference April 2-3 in Moscow, Idaho.

The hardest part about presenting at the two conferences, he explained, was condensing his entire 45-minute thesis defense down to just five.

“That felt like a pretty difficult task because I had so much to talk about,” Herde said. “I had to reorganize things a bit so I could make sure I was explaining everything in a way that would make sense to a broad audience. But I was pretty happy with how it turned out.”

With a President’s Cup win and a master’s degree now in his back pocket, Herde is looking forward to taking what he has learned into a PhD program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C., this fall.

He could see himself continuing in academia, possibly joining the college professor ranks someday. But, in the short term, he’s hoping to start his career in private industry. After interviewing for a research and development position with a running shoe company earlier this year, he has a good idea of what might be awaiting him.

“Although I didn’t get the internship, I felt like the process really helped me learn how the running shoe industry functions,” Herde said. “There’s a lot of variety in what you do from day to day, and it’s a pretty competitive field, which also interests me.”

Looking back on his time in Ellensburg, Herde says he can’t think of a better place to prepare him for a long career in exercise science and human physiology.

“It’s crazy to think about where I was when I got here compared to how I feel now,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but this faculty knows how to get the most out of their students. I'm very grateful for everything they have done for me."