We all have a story, here’s mine.

I was born and raised in Lexington, North Carolina. At the age of 4, I was diagnosed with a rare bone disease (Kohler’s disease) that caused the navicular bone in my left foot to lose blood supply and disintegrate. I spent a year in cast, wheelchairs, and crutches as my foot healed. Before the injury, I was a gymnast, but after the diagnosis I had to give up all bounding activities until further notice. My doctor recommended I take up swimming due to its low impact and rehabilitation benefits.

At first, I couldn’t make it down the pool length without stopping dozens of times. My coach told my Mom, “maybe this isn’t the right sport for her. “ But even then, I wasn’t a quitter. I was determined to get down the pool. I spent the next two decades of my life chasing the black line at the bottom. 

In high school, I was ranked top 100 in the World in the mile. I qualified and represented the United States on two teams, Junior Youth National Team and Junior Pan Pacific Team competing in Guam and Barcelona, Spain after placing top 5 in the country at USA Open Water Nationals. 

I ultimately accepted an athletic scholarship to The Ohio State University as a Varsity Swimmer. I held multiple school records, and competed in all four Big Ten Championships, where I placed top 8 in 3 out of 4 Championships. My Junior year I individually qualified for NCAAs in the mile. My fourth year I was elected as a Captain for the team. During my time as a swimmer at OSU, I competed in the USA Olympic Trials held in Omaha, Nebraska. I competed in 3 events, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 200 backstroke, but missed the qualifying standard for the meet in the 200 freestyle by 0.01 of a second.

Upon finishing my four years as a single sport Varsity athlete, the OSU Varsity Rowing Coach noticed me working out in the weight room, and inquired about my eligibility. After discovering I had an eligible Red Shirt year available, he offered to uphold my full scholarship for a fifth year eligibility if I joined the Varsity Rowing Team. Blown away by their offer, and knowledge of how formidable of a team the Crew Team was, I jumped at the opportunity. 

I learned to row as a Starboard in two months following the end of my swimming career. The Novice Boat I rowed in competed in Big Ten’s at the end of those two months and we placed 3rd. The Team overall won the Big Ten Championship. The following year, began my fifth year eligibility, where my team voted me one of their five Captains. A few months before Big Ten’s, I fractured two ribs during a regatta. My chances of racing at Big Ten’s and NCAAs in the Varsity Boats were shattered. Even then, I biked 6-7 hours a day to maintain my cardio and strength in the event my ribs would heal and I could row for the races. Unfortunately, the rib fractures were too deep to heal in time, and I wasn’t able to race when the regattas arrived. I cheered on my team as they raced to win their 4th straight Big Ten Title, and 3rd straight National Championship Title, the first team to ever do so in the history of the sport.

Following my fifth year as a Varsity athlete and student at OSU, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. I worked for the Ohio EPA and US Fish and Wildlife over the next 3 years in various roles within Fisheries and Wildlife Science until I discovered my next challenge. Long distance hiking.

Long story short, I decided I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. In the winter. By myself with my dog, Riley. The AT traverses 14 states and covers 2,189.9 miles through multiple mountain ranges. Riley and I began, September 30, 2017 at Mt. Katahdin, Maine, and finished on February 17, 2018 at Springer Mountain, Georgia. During that time, my now husband, proposed to me on the trail, right before I dropped him off on a seven month deployment. I got back on the trail the very next morning. We later got married on top of a mountain along the AT on the TN/NC border.