Spending the last three and a half years making his way into the West Platte cross-country and track and field history books, Charlie Kinslow has officially signed his letter of intent to continue his academic and athletic career at Northwest Missouri State University.
After signing his letter of intent to compete in cross-country and track and field at Northwest Missouri State University, West Platte senior Charlie Kinslow poses for a picture surrounded by all of his coaches.
The West Platte senior will be competing in both indoor and outdoor track and field, along with cross-country at Northwest. Kinslow had multiple Division-II and NAIA offers before finally deciding to become a Bearcat.
“Central Missouri, Emporia State and Truman State were all great options for colleges, but what really drew me to Northwest were the facilities, the coaches and the athletes,” Charlie Kinslow said. “I talked to the team on my visit; the vibe is just great up there and everybody who has gone there has loved it.”
Kinslow is a 3-sport athlete – which includes basketball – and has wanted to play a sport in college for a long time, even though running wasn’t always his first choice. Since picking it up more competitively when he was in middle school, the Northwest commit has finally made that dream into a reality.
“My dream as a little kid was to be a college basketball player, but that didn’t pan out with me being 5’11; I don’t think that would’ve gone very well. I always wanted to be a college athlete and it’s panned out that way, so I’m thankful for the crazy adventure,” Kinslow said.
Kinslow will have a large workload when he gets to Northwest with three different seasons of running. He told the Platte County Citizen what it will look like juggling both seasons of track and field, along with cross-country.
“I’ll be pretty loaded up with cross-country then we’ll go to into indoor and then outdoor, so I’ll be running a ton, but I’ve talked to the coach about it. He gives a lot of breaks with rest times – multiple weeks, months, stuff like that – so it should be good. Cross-country is a different running with all the courses and stuff like that and then you have the track, so it’ll be fun,” Kinslow said.
The 2-time reigning district champion in the 800-meter run has mastered that race, setting the Blue Jay record with a time of 1:58.30 and finishing in seventh place in state last track and field season. Kinslow isn’t sure yet what event he’ll be competing in the most when he becomes a Bearcat but is open to whatever they want him to do.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do for the team standpoint to get points, but I think in terms of the team, I’ll find myself in the middle of the pack and I’ll have to work my way up. I’ve never really dealt with that before, so it’ll be interesting. The mile, 800, DMR (distance medley relay), and four-by-four are all options in track,” Kinslow said.
In his junior year, Kinslow shied away from the mile – after running a personal best time of 4:33.70 – since he was focusing on the 800-meter run. In his time doing track at West Platte, Kinslow has earned four state medals, qualified for state in four different events, was the sole conference champion in two events and led last year’s squad with 389 total points.
“I’ve found running to be a love and thankfully I’m good at it so that helps, plus my mom and my grandpa were big runners, so it’s always been in the family. This track season will be more fun, like the fun relaxed running; I don’t think there will be a lot of pressure now having this commitment underway and stuff like that,” Kinslow said.
While the running program was a key factor in the Blue Jay’s decision factor to become a Bearcat, he is also going for the academic program. He is planning to study kinesiology, which is the study of body movement, to follow the footsteps of his parents who are both physical therapists.
“It’s student athlete, right, so, education comes first, and the kinesiology and PT program is great up there. I think I might go into the more performance area of it to work with kids, work with other athletes, as I get older and stuff like that,” Kinslow said.
This past cross-country season, Kinslow became the first ever 3-time KCI Conference Champion, set a program record with a time of 16:23 and finished in third place at state. He will be striving for a gold medal this spring in the track and field state meet.