I Play For: Nicole Greene

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For 11 years, members of the North Carolina track & field team eagerly pursued the dream of becoming a national champion. Though many came close, it was Nicole Greene who stepped onto the national stage and finally captured the coveted title at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas.

A redshirt junior high jumper from Ponte Vedra, Fla., Greene had made plenty of NCAA and ACC Championship appearances during her first two seasons at UNC. Despite numerous All-ACC honors and even a first-team All-America accolade, the three-time ACC runner-up, two-time NCAA Outdoor East Preliminary Round qualifier and two-time NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier seemed to just miss postseason titles. All of that changed when she kicked off her 2018 indoor season with a new personal-best height of 6-2 (1.88m) at the Dick Taylor Carolina Cup.

Greene went on to finish no less than third in her six competitions that season. She earned first-place honors at the Carolina Cup and the Clemson Bob Pollock Invitational and was also the runner-up at the Clemson Invitational. Just days before the ACC Indoor Championships, Greene matched her career record in the high jump to finish third at the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Despite her history at conference championships, Greene pushed through her final jumps and cleared that personal-best height of 6-2 to finally claim the ACC high jump title. She was tested once again at NCAA Indoors in a battle to the very end when she hit a mark of 6-1 1/2 in a seven-round jump-off to win the NCAA national championship title.

Greene went on to redshirt the 2018 outdoor season, but Carolina cannot wait for her return to competition.

GET TO KNOW NICOLE

Why did you choose to come to Carolina?
"So my dream school was actually Harvard. I'm from Boston and I was born at Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston. My mom worked there doing research and we moved to Florida when I was seven, so my dream of college was always Harvard. It had nothing to do with athletics at all. I didn't think I would be doing track until maybe my sophomore year of high school when I thought, 'Oh, I could probably do this.' I chose Carolina because it was the best fit between athletics — having a high jump coach who really cared about me all around, not just my jumping but me as a person — and also the academics were really important because Carolina is kind of known as a pre-health, pre-professional school. So having the med school here on campus and having the hospital here, I knew I would have a lot of resources, opportunities and support with my academics as well. I didn't even end up taking an official visit to Harvard because I really had to think about my future beyond track. So that's why I chose Carolina."

Was there a moment you knew you wanted to be a Tar Heel?
"Probably not because I felt really pressed to make a decision since I visited Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt as well. It really boiled down to a week or so, but what made the difference with Carolina was that Coach Hudson brought me to the hospital to meet the head of burn surgery, Dr. Bruce Carns, and his mentee, Dr. Felicia Williams. As I reflected back on it, I think that part of the visit was probably what had the most impact on my decision, but it wasn't in the moment. I had to sit down and think about it."

What led you to medicine as a career path?
"It's kind of cliché, but I guess my parents. They're both internal medicine doctors and they both specialized so I feel like growing up around them really helped me make my decision, but at the same time I could see myself finding medicine even if they weren't doctors. It was basically seeing how it wasn't just a nine-to-five. They were doctors twenty-four-seven and seeing how they cared for patients while also caring for me and my brother and how that kind of broke the stereotypes that doctors can't have families or women can't be doctors. My mom totally took care of my brother one hundred percent while she also cared for her patients. Seeing her live like that inspired me to try to help people while also wanting to build a family."

How did it feel to capture the national title?
"I guess I would say it was extremely unreal especially just how it happened. In most championships, you kind of who is about to win high jump maybe when it's down to the top three people still in, but in this one I had to do a seven round jump-off with [Loretta Blaut of Cincinnati] and we were both tired. It was between 'I really want to win' and 'I want this to be over' because I was absolutely dead from jumping. I've never jumped that much in a competition before so I guess it was kind of who wanted it more. Once it happened and it was done with, it was more me thinking 'Thank God for getting me through this' but also 'I'm so tired' instead of cheering and stuff which I did. I still think it's unreal now, imagining myself being a national champion, because it was a goal of mine, but I felt like it was so far away yet so close at the same time. I don't know. I'm very grateful and I'm so happy, but it was just like 'Wow, I finally did it.' And I did it my junior year, not my senior year. A lot of people do it once they get out in their last chance, but I'm really grateful I was able to pull it off. Loretta was actually my brother's teammate so she knew who I was and I knew who she was, so it was kind of cool knowing the person."

What do you play for?
"I definitely play for God because I wouldn't be where I am without Him. I guess I could say the championship doesn't feel real because I know I wasn't doing it for myself but for Him. Whenever someone asks me that, I think God did this for some reason. I don't know why, but I'm just thankful He let me experience that opportunity and play the sport that I love."

Players Mentioned

Nicole Greene

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