When Being Varsity-Fit Masks an Eating Disorder

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/fashi ... and&emc=rs

When Being Varsity-Fit Masks an Eating Disorder

Craig Lassig for The New York Times
Women on the cross-country team at the University of Minnesota, under the direction of Coach Gary Wilson, are closely monitored.

By PAUL SCOTT
Published: September 14, 2006
FOR a runner, Alex DeVinny wasn’t all that skinny on the day that she won a state track title in 2003. At 17, she was 5-foot-8 and weighed 125 pounds.


Craig Lassig for The New York Times
LOOKING FOR CLUES Alex DeVinny, above, was a state track champion in Racine, Wis.
Few people watching her run the 3,200 meters in 10 minutes 53 seconds would have guessed that she had had symptoms of an eating disorder since age 9 and that she had yet to start menstruating. Her coach didn’t know. The college recruiters certainly did not know.

She was never going to run for those colleges. The summer after she won the title, Ms. DeVinny, from Racine, Wis., began to run even harder and eat even less. When she came out for cross-country in the fall, she looked frail and underweight. Her coach was concerned enough to prevent her from competing in several meets, but he allowed her to do two-thirds of her training. He never asked about her menstrual periods and did not know about her anorexia.

Ms. DeVinny sneaked in extra workouts, but her dazzling window of athleticism had already begun to close. “Her body kind of broke down during her senior year,â€Â