Pierson Graduate Greene Earns All-American Honors After Top Three Finish at NCAA Championships

Pierson graduate Penelope Greene earned the biggest honor of her collegiate career on November 18, becoming an All-American after finishing third in the 6K race at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in Newville, Pennsylvania, hosted by Dickinson College.

Greene, a 2021 graduate of Pierson, is in her junior year at SUNY-Geneseo and it’s been a breakout season for her. She ran a time of 20:59 in the roughly 3.7-mile race, which was good enough for third. The top 40 runners earn All-American status.

The 20:59 time was only the third fastest time Greene has run this season. Her record so far is 20:47.

The top-three finish felt like redemption, Greene said, after what was a disappointing end to her sophomore season. Last year, Greene was struggling with a hip flexor injury and didn’t make it to the NCAA championship race. She set qualifying for that race as a goal for her junior season, and not only achieved it but had a strong finish, and by the end of the race had the All-American medal hanging around her neck.

“I had this as my goal at the beginning of the season,” Greene said. “I really wanted to prove myself after last year.”

Greene said she felt confident that her goal was reachable after she ran a personal-record time of 20:47 at the Woods Invitational at Geneseo back in October.

“From then on I was like, okay, I can do this,” she said. “I can set these big goals for myself.”

Greene is now turning her attention to the indoor track and field season, where she will specialize in the 5K, 3K and occasionally the mile race. For the outdoor track and field season in the spring, Greene will focus on the 5K, the 1,500-meter race, and possibly the 10K.

Greene’s running career began when she was an eighth-grader at Pierson Middle School. Prior to eighth grade, she had been a dedicated soccer player, but had also done road races with her family, including the Shelter Island 5K and Shelter Island 10K, and said she always enjoyed them. At a certain point, she said she decided to make the switch to cross country, and before long, she was a standout for Pierson, making multiple trips to the state cross country championships before graduating. Greene credited high school coach Jim Kinnier with giving her a strong foundation as a runner, and said that her college coach, Dan Moore, has helped make her even better. She called her junior year “a breakout season,” and said she’s excited to see what the rest of this year and then her final year as a senior has in store.

“I think my freshman year in college I really clicked with [Moore’s] training,” she said. “I’ve had my ups and downs, but where I’m at now, I’m very grateful for.”