Mackenzie Rose '20 Recruiting Profile

Back in grade school, I was on my school’s basketball team and was not that good of a player. However, one of my coaches said that though basketball may not be my sport, he saw me as an athlete with a lot of potential and one who would find my calling one day. I still look back at this comment he made and laugh because he predicted my future correctly. I started running the spring before my freshman year of high school after a friend’s mom suggested that I join the cross country team. Though I did not know what I was doing at the time (coming from a family of not many runners), I stayed committed to my workout routine and built up to seven miles that summer. I ended up being on the varsity team my freshman year of high school. Since then, I have been constantly progressing each year in decreasing my time and becoming more mentally tough. I have grown to love this sport in a way like no other and have created another family out of it with my peers. Running has become a major part of my life and when I take off just a few days, I feel like I do not know who I am. Being able to always have a challenge, even when you reach one of your goals, is what I love about this sport. You get to be the one to determine how badly you want it.

My goal for the upcoming seasons is to take a minute off of my 5K time in cross country and to continue to reduce my times in the mile and two mile throughout my remaining two track seasons. I strive to keep up my progress in running as well as in school. I would like to raise my GPA of 3.38 out of 4.0 in the remainder of this year and all of next year. I am a very determined and health-conscious person who is always working to be a better person to myself and others. That is why I am interested in exercise science and have a goal to take up a career following down that path. Running in college would be a dream of mine that would support both my personal and professional goals in life.