Kansas Greenwell could get attention enough just from her unusual name.
But Greenwell – who is from Ohio, not Kansas – is really turning heads by running in the No. 1 position as a freshman on the Morehead State cross country team.
She has been the Eagles' top finisher in four of five meets thus far. The exception came in the recent NCAA Pre-Nationals, where junior
Mackenzie Butler topped Greenwell by eight seconds. Still, Greenwell's time of 22:38.6 for 6,000 meters is the sixth-best in MSU history. Butler's time ranks fifth-best ever.
Greenwell came to be Kansas because "my parents just wanted me to have a unique name, and it seemed to fit me well."
Friends call her Kansas. Or, if they're trying to be funny, they might call her by another state name such as Dakota or Kentucky.
From Morrow, Ohio, she took up running as a high school freshman as a way to meet other people. As it turned out, she was the lone girl to enlist that year, so she trained with the boys' team. When meet day came around, she would run as an individual in the girls' race. Sophomore year, two girls joined the team.
"But the girls usually didn't run the times that I did, so I still continued to run with the boys until I was a senior in high school," Greenwell said. "And then I wanted to get better, and I was kind of trying to make up for lost time my senior year of high school because I hadn't been running that long compared to other people, so I just ran in the morning before school by myself and then I went to practice after school with the team. And that definitely helped my training, for my times to get better, so that I was able to run in college like I wanted to."
She placed 31
st in Ohio's state cross country championships, and in track was 11
th in the 1,600 meters.
MSU coach
Stephen Picucci saw Greenwell as a diamond in the rough.
"She was from a small school in Ohio. She didn't really run against a lot of competition or have a real great team to be around," Picucci said. "So I figured let's get a kid that was underdeveloped and just give her an opportunity."
Running was only part of what attracted Greenwell to MSU.
"I wanted to run collegiately, but my main focus was to find a really solid nursing program, because I've known that's what I want to major in for a while," she said. "My ultimate goal is to become a nurse practitioner. So I decided to come to Morehead because the past assistant coach contacted me and I checked out the nursing program here, and it seemed wonderful."
No doubt some of the inspiration for a nursing career comes from her summer endeavors. At 13, she volunteered, and has since graduated to a counselor, at a Cincinnati summer camp for kids with disabilities.
Greenwell says she also enjoys science, reading and playing piano. For the latter, she prefers to play classical pieces because they tend to be difficult and present a challenge.
As for the challenge of collegiate cross country, Greenwell has surprised even herself with her results.
"I wasn't expecting to be in front," she said. "It was a different mentality running with a group of girls because I've never had a team to run with before. The girls at my high school, they would run in a different group. And it's really helpful to have a group of girls to train with and to do hard workouts with, and just to talk to. … I think that's helped me in my training. And, definitely, the workouts from Coach have helped me to get better."
"I'm pleased with her and just the way she's attacked everything," Picucci said.
Next up for Greenwell and the Eagles is the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, Oct. 31, at Murray State.
"Since I'm only a freshman, I don't really have any goals," Greenwell said. "Just to get a new PR (personal record) in the 6K and to race competitively, not be intimidated and to help pace the girls so they all do well, too."
