ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- It was her first fall at the College of Saint Benedict and Mary Kenney was feeling homesick.
 
The East Ridge High School graduate wasn't sure she was in the right place or if she would be able to stick it out.
 
All those emotions came to a head one afternoon in the training room after cross country practice.
 
"I don't remember exactly what happened, but all of a sudden I was crying," the now-senior recalled. "(Then juniors) Keiley Maahs and Erin Martin were right there," said Kenney. "They took me out of the training room and hugged me. They told me it was going to be OK.
 
"After that, we went to dinner. It was just the three of us sitting in a booth in the Gorecki Center dining room," Kenney continued. "They told me about the hard times they went through and what their experiences had been like. That really cheered me up and showed me they had my back. It meant so much. It really made me feel like I belonged here."
 
Kenney has carried that memory with her ever since. It's why she now makes a point of checking in with younger teammates on both the cross country and track and field teams to see if they're doing OK.
 
"(CSB head cross country coach) Robin (Balder-Lanoue) has an analogy she likes to make," Kenney said. "She says every season is a puzzle. You take things apart from the year before, add new pieces and find ways to make them fit. It's important for the new runners each year to know they're part of this and they have people looking out for them."
 
That attitude is why Balder-Lanoue labels Kenney as the Bennies' hype woman.
 
"She gets so excited for everyone's accomplishments, whether it's a race, acing a test or just having a great day," Balder-Lanoue said. "She makes sure we celebrate even the little things."
 
"Mary embodies everything you want from a team member. She never forgets that while running fast is the goal, being a good teammate is the most important thing you can do," said Balder-Lanoue. "She commits to that just as much as she does to training and mileage."
 
Make no mistake, Kenney trains as hard as anyone too. And her hard work has paid off.
 
She has been CSB's top finisher in all four of the Bennies' competitions this fall – continuing to build on the momentum she established in track and field last spring when she earned All-MIAC honors with a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a personal-best time of 11 minutes, 17.98 seconds.
 
"She put in a lot of time training this summer," Balder-Lanoue said about Kenney, who recorded a personal-best and the sixth-best 6,000-meter time in program-history of 22:27.8 at the Linfield George Oja Invitational on Oct. 18. "She increased her mileage more than she ever has. I think she wanted to do everything she could to start the (cross country) season as strong as possible."
 
"Having an All-MIAC performance under her belt has given her a lot of confidence, and it's made her hungry for more all-conference honors," Balder-Lanoue said.
 
She will get the chance to add another one to her resume Saturday (Nov. 1) when she and her teammates compete at the MIAC Championship meet at the Highland 9 Cross Country Trailhead in St. Paul. The women's race is scheduled to begin at noon.
 
The top 15 finishers earn All-MIAC status.
 
"First and foremost, I want to be proud of my effort," Kenney said. "Robin and I have talked a lot about how this year isn't as much about time as it is about effort. I want to leave everything on the course. If I could get All-MIAC, that would be awesome. That's the goal. And, as a team, I would like to see us get into the top five. That's what we're all aiming for."
 
It's not surprising Kenney ended up at CSB. Her mother Anne was a Bennie and her father Ray was a Johnnie. They met on campus and the schools have long been a big part of their lives.
 
"They took their wedding photos here and their reception was just down the road at the old El Paso Club, where the Kwik Trip in St. Joe is now," Kenney said. "My older sister Erin went here too. She graduated in 2018, and I came up to visit a lot during my middle school years. I always loved the campus. I didn't really look at any other schools, to be honest."
 
Kenney was also drawn to CSB because of the school's nursing program. She plans to pursue a career as an RN after graduation this May.
 
"My grandma was a nurse and I always wanted to be just like her," said Kenney, who had an internship on the cardiac telemetry floor at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park this past summer.
 
"So, I've wanted to be a nurse since I was five. I love the idea of being able to help people and make a difference in their lives," said Kenney.
 
It is exactly what she tries to do when it comes to her teammates.
 
"I was so lucky to have great mentors in all the classes ahead of me," she said. "And if I can play that role for our younger runners now, that's what I want to do. Because I know how much it meant to have people who did that for me."