After earning All-SEC First Team honors in 2009 and NCAA All-American honors in 2008, time at Auburn has almost run out for senior distance runner Holly Knight.
Knight grew up in the small city of Devon, located on the southern coast of England, and said she has always enjoyed staying active and being outside.
"I enjoyed doing outdoor things, and Devon was a nice place for that," Knight said. "It was a great place to grow up. There are a lot of beaches, farmlands and national parks--just kind of green area."
Like many athletes, Knight developed an early love for sports and decided to try out for a team.
"I was quite young when I first started," Knight said. "I was about 9 years old when I first joined the track club. It was just fun at first, but it grew from there. Things slowly became more competitive, and I started competing in races."
Knight attended Ivybridge High School, where she took third at the 2006 Devon Schools Cross Country Championship and placed fourth at the 2007 Senior Athletics Championships in the 3,000 meter.
Knight then came to the United States and Auburn in 2007 for her freshman year, and decided she was going to major in psychology.
After graduation, Knight plans to attend graduate school also for psychology, but said she is not sure yet which route she wants to take.
"I'm not sure if I want to teach or go into clinical practice," Knight said. "But it will probably be one of those two. Hopefully this will allow me to stay in the States a little bit longer. I'm not sure if I want to go home yet because I like it here a lot."
The life of a student-athlete can be demanding, and Knight admits she doesn't have a lot of spare time.
When she does have time off, however, Knight said she spends time with friends from the team and enjoys some of the simple things in life such as nice weather.
Knight was Auburn's top finisher in each of her first five competitions in 2009 and leads the team by example, according to head coach Ralph Spry.
"She has been a role model to the program," he said. "She does everything the coaches ask her to do; she has just about a 4.0 GPA--so really just a coach's dream."
Besides her on-the-field-results, Knight's coaches said she is a sheer joy to be around.
"No matter what happens, whether it comes to injuries or if some race did not go her way, she always stays positive," Spry said. "She always has a smile on her face. I don't think I have ever spoken with her or crossed her path when she was not cheery and had a great smile on her face along with that English accent."
Distance coach Mark Carroll said Knight also has great energy which feeds the rest of the team.
"She takes care of all the little stuff such as stretching so that she can compete at the highest level," Carroll said. "This year has been another great year for her."
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