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A day in the life of a student athlete
by Alison Fosbenner
Staff Writer
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| Trey Allman | The Appalachian |
Class Time
2 p.m. Genetics lab
With a large backpack over her shoulder, Michelle Conklin rounded the corner of the hall in Rankin Science Building and headed into her classroom to begin her lab. Conklin grabbed a shoebox from a shelf in the corner of the lab that contains tubes of fruit flies. The class is trying to find mutations among the insects. One tube of Conklin’s had yet to emerge.
Every eight hours, she comes into the lab to check on them.
Next, Conklin moved on to a fruit fly cross, the lab for that day, with her partner. While at work, she was intent, serious, interested and determined to figure out the correct cross.
Many of her classmates approached to ask about the game and tell her they’d be there. Even her professor talked basketball with her.
Meanwhile, the rest of the women’s team was at the Holmes Convocation Center for a shoot-around.
“That is hard because the girls are there and this is going to be my last shoot-around,” Conklin said. “I was thinking about the game earlier; now I’ve got to focus on this.”
The game against Western Carolina University, her last of the regular season, will also be bittersweet because it is Senior Night.
“I am sadder than I thought. It’s just the main door in my life is closing,” Conklin said. “But I’m ready for it. There are so many more doors that are opening.”
3:30 p.m. Baby frog check up
Conklin is not only a proud parent of hundreds of fruit flies but also to a number of soon to be frogs. After lab, Conklin strolled over to the new Rankin Building to her developmental lab to check on them.
In two separate Petri dishes were a set of African frog and albino frog embryos.
“I’m a nerd,” Conklin said as she got excited and pointed out the soon-to-be eyes and backbones of the almost tadpoles and encouraged me to peak into the microscope.
Shortly after, Conklin went home to eat and have some personal time before the big game.
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| Jeyhoun Allebaugh | The Appalachian |
Pre-Game
5:05 p.m. Training Room
Conklin, walking with her roommate and teammate Danielle Edwards, is ready for the game. She swapped her jeans, sweater and brown boots for the white, black and gold uniform and braided hair.
Conklin immediately went to the training room and jumped up on the counter for her ankles to be taped up by the trainer.
She mentioned she could not wait to see her family, filled the trainer and teammates in on her fruit flies and frogs and joked that she would have to bring her family in after the game to see her critters.
5:20 p.m. Solo shooting
Conklin made her way to a vacant court to warm-up a bit on her own since she missed the shoot-around. She sat down to put on her Nike Shox sneakers. The same sneakers had once been where a tube of fruit flies now sat in a lab room across campus.
Conklin quiely went about her business in the spacious Holmes Convocation Center. The only sound in the building was the singular dribbling basketball.
5:45 p.m. Team warm-ups
With Western Carolina’s women’s team on the opposite end of the court, the Appalachian women began warm-ups together.
While warming up, Conklin had a positive attitude and offered encouragement to her teammates. She warmed up just as intense as she plays in a game, but it is a happy intensity. She always wears a smile.
Her parents, aunt and uncle were already in the stands, all four standing clapping their hands to Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”
“I can’t wait to see my parents,” Conklin said in the training room.
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| Jeyhoun Allebaugh | The Appalachian |
Senior Night
7 p.m. Game time
Senior Night kicked off the evening with the recognition of the three seniors on the team (Conklin, Lindsay Smith and Jessica Jank). Conklin walked out to half-court to receive her plaque and rose. She stood in between her parents with her arm around her mother. Photos were snapped of the three with head coach Adrienne Shuler.
In the locker room before the game, Conklin sat in the front and listened intently to the coach’s instructions the same way she listened to her professor’s earlier at lab.
The team filed out of the locker room and into the tunnel. Before running out onto the court, Conklin had the spirit a cheerleader would be envious of, hollering “hoo rah!” along with her team.
7:10 p.m. Game gets rough
Conklin is pulled out of the game after being scraped on the back of her left arm just above the elbow. While the trainer bandaged up the wound, Conklin kept her attention focused on the game. She watched over her shoulder while guzzling water and screamed and cheered on her team.
7:30 p.m. Appalachian dominates
Appalachian was up 56-33 at halftime. In the locker room, teammate Jocelyn Wyatt offered some encouragement.
“This feels good y’all, let’s keep this feeling.”
The halftime pep-talk must have worked.
With 3:18 left in the game, Shuler took the seniors, including Conklin, out to not only let the younger players play but to allow them to leave the court together one last time.
Post-Game
8:45 p.m. The End
Final score: 96-78, Appalachian. Conklin scored eight of those points, blocked two shots, had two steals and four assists, a team high.
Does Conklin want to be known as a student-athlete, or an athlete-student?
“Can I say neither?” she hesitantly asked. “I would say just being an all-around good person.”
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