Senior cross country runner Courtney Brinsky is only 21 years old, but says she already has eight children.
“The freshmen on the team all call me ‘mom,’” Brinsky said. “I think it’s hilarious.”
Entering her final year of competition, Brinsky says she has earned the respect of teammates and coaches, but this respect did not come easily.
A native of Middletown, Delaware, Brinsky grew up participating in two sports: cross country and softball. She found success in both, making the varsity softball team as a freshman in high school.
“Softball was my passion,” Brinsky said. “It was something I was so good at. My whole life, I thought, ‘I’m just going to go to college and play ball.’”
But it was Brinsky’s running ability, not her softball skills that caught the eye of Bob MacFarlane, St. Bonaventure’s cross country coach.
“Every race I ran in high school, I just got better and better,” Brinsky said. “I was dropping time; never once did my time get slower. Junior year of high school, I started talking to Bob MacFarlane, and after my recruiting trip senior year, cross country won me over.”
Entering her freshman year at Bonaventure, Brinsky said she struggled to adjust to life away from home and the social and academic pressures of college.
“In college, you’re trying to figure out who you are,” Brinsky said. “I lost myself. I lost my priorities. Running and school were no longer my priorities; I cared more about fitting in with groups of people that I lived with, which often didn’t agree with what the team wanted me to do. Running was no longer a passion, and I thought about quitting the team and not even coming back to Bona’s for my second semester.”
In an attempt to fit in, Brinsky said she turned to drinking, which only intensified her problems.
“I ended up in the hospital one night,” Brinsky said. “I woke up, and I did not like who I was one bit. I never saw myself being hospitalized for drinking, since I’d never drank before that night.”
Determined to change to the course of her collegiate career, Brinsky knew she must first tell her father what had happened.
“I told him about it,” Brinsky said. “I thought he would scream at me, but he said, ‘Okay, you better not make that same mistake again.’ Once I hung up, those words stuck with me, and nothing like that has happened since. That was a turnaround point for me.”
Instead of giving up on running and school, Brinsky said she became a serious, organized student and redoubled her efforts athletically.
“I’m not a quitter, and I don’t like sad stories,” Brinsky said. “I don’t like thinking ‘what if?’ Once I start something I’m determined to go through with it. At that point in my life, after saying ‘I can’t do this; it’s too hard,’ I got back on track.’”
Re-focused and re-energized, Brinsky began to excel in the classroom and on the course, something that did not go unnoticed by her coaches.
“Courtney is tough,” said assistant coach Kady Weisner. “She doesn’t give in. Through all the ups and downs, she has never failed to come to practice ready to go for the day and with a fire in her eyes.”
Now, comfortable with the person she has become, Brinsky said she is glad to use her experience to help others.
“Something like what happened to me is okay,” Brinsky said. “I’m happy to be a senior now and be able to tell some of the younger girls about the mistakes I’ve made. Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean they’re not going to, but helping them along the way is great. Even before runs, I’m always talking to the younger girls because getting through a workout as a freshman isn’t easy, but I’ve been doing it for years. I know what to do; I’ve got the hang of it. I’m glad I can be that person to reassure them that they’re doing well.”
After graduation in May, Brinsky said she plans to begin training to become a police officer. She said she has always wanted to be an officer, and she wouldn’t be able to fulfill that dream were it not for her struggles in college.
“If I wasn’t on this team, I don’t know where I’d be,” Brinsky said. “College has definitely changed me. I’ve definitely grown, but I had to do it on my own. I had to figure things out.”
kibbeei14@bonaventure.edu
