Michel Wilson is one of the top long distance runners on the MHCC track team and will soon be heading to a four-year college or university.

“She’s one of our top individual athletes on this track team,” said head track coach Tony Baracco.

Wilson, 20, is not only a talented athlete; she is also talented in the classroom, where earlier this year she was named an Academic All-American for cross country with a 4.0 GPA.

One of Wilson’s role models is her high school coach, Bob Williams, who taught her how to be a well-balanced person - that is, to do well in class and take life lessons from track. He told her, “Life is like a track workout: No matter how hard it gets, you can get through it one step at a time.”

Growing up in Corvallis was where she first took to running. Wilson participated in both track and cross country for all four years at Central Catholic High School. Although she also played basketball and was a cheerleader, running was the one that stuck. “Running is hard work, but it’s something that I really enjoy.”

One of her top moments in track was while she was a sophomore at Central Catholic, she beat a senior in the 800-meter run to win the Mt. Hood Conference. “It was a picture-close finish. I beat her in a hundredth of a second,” said Wilson.

Last week she took a recruiting trip to the University of Mississippi, which is her number one college choice after finishing school at MHCC. “That’s big time running,” she said.

This self proclaimed “health nut” likes to spend her free time snowboarding, taking walks with her mom and watching movies with her roommate. A recent flick Wilson saw was the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” where her favorite comedian is Larry the Cable Guy. “I’m not much of a girly-girl movie type of person.”

Before every track meet Wilson eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and kisses her shamrock tattoo for luck. “After losing my lucky necklace, I decided to get a tattoo. Something that would be pretty difficult to lose.”

Wilson is never quiet with her team and is always talking and joking with her teammates. She says her teammates are essential to her success. “My points aren’t going to matter without everyone else’s.”