UVic grad cross-country star by day, musical powerhouse by night

University of Victoria graduate Laura Mitic leads a dual life. By day she is a varsity track and cross-country athlete and by night she is a musical powerhouse in the up-and-coming Victoria band known as Carmanah. Born in Nova Scotia and raised in Victoria, the Claremont High School grad graduates in June with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in environmental studies.

The toughest part of Mitic’s final year at UVic was finding time for everything.

“Balancing it all was a challenge,” said Mitic, a five-year member of the Vikes. “There would be days when I would get up early to go to class, go straight to practice and then I would have a gig at night and not get home till 3 a.m. At the end you always feel great accomplishing everything.”

Mitic credits her UVic track and cross-country coaches, Keith Butler and Brent Fougner, for recognizing music was just as important to her as her athletic career.

“Brent and Keith, they understood that the band was a big part of my life,” says Mitic. “I don’t think many other coaches could put up with me having such a big commitment outside of sports, which I think is really rare.”

Even with such a big commitment to Carmanah, Mitic completed five straight seasons as a member of the Vikes cross-country and track team. In that time, Mitic was twice named a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) cross-country second team All-Canadian. In 2010, Mitic placed eighth at the CIS cross-country national championship and was the first Vike to cross the finish line.

When asked what she likes more, music or running, Mitic was quick to respond with music: “Music is everything to me, but I’ll do both for as long as I can.”

When Mitic was nine years old she saw a live symphony. She was mesmerized by the violin section and asked her parents for a violin. After doing classical for eight years, Mitic switched to the fiddle since there was less structure and therefore more freedom to be musically creative.

Mitic and her band Carmanah have been on the Victoria music scene for a little over a year now and they have played at the Tall Tree Music Festival and sold out Sugar Night Club. In May, Carmanah made the top 10 in the CBC-sponsored Tracks on Tracks contest, but lost in the final round of voting. The Tracks on Tracks contest selects three fledging Canadian Bands to play on a train across Canada with more established acts. Winners also receive recording time.

"Making the top 10 was exciting for us since we are still a pretty new band,” says Mitic. “It was super heart-warming to see how much support we received from people.”

Mitic cherished her time at UVic, but is now ready for things to slow down and let music become her main focus.

“I’m a bit of a dreamer,” says Mitic. “I would like music to be my career. I would like to take Carmanah and run with it.”