The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 22, 1999

School is a family affair for Keene State cross country couple

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

For Scott and Sharon Jensen, both senior student-athletes at Keene State College, balancing academics, athletics and their personal lives means a bit more than it does to most.

In addition to being cross country runners and honors students, Scott and Sharon Jensen are married, and they have a 2-year-old daughter, Autumn.

Scott Jensen, 22, and Sharon Jensen, 21, had dated since their high-school days in Casper, Wyoming. Their relationship brought them to New Hampshire together.

"Sharon had been looking at several schools in the East, and the more serious we got in our relationship, I thought I had better start looking in this area, too," Scott Jensen said.

Scott was a state-champion miler and an all-state cross country runner at Natrona High School in Casper, and he was looking for a college with a strong computer-science program as well as a strong cross country and track team.

"I think he had in him what he is doing now," said Keene State coach Peter Thomas. "He had good cross country ability and solid track speed. To be a truly great runner, you have to have great leg speed. He has that."

Sharon Jensen, who didn't start running seriously until she got to Keene State, is now one of the better runners on an otherwise young women's team.

After their first semester at Keene State, Sharon and Scott decided to get married. Their daughter was born a year later.

"We hadn't planned on having a kid until after graduation," Scott said. "It's kind of a restraint on our life, but she's enriched our life so much. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing."

Autumn has become a part of the cross country teams, traveling with them to meets and accompanying her parents on training runs. Occasionally, another runner will help baby-sit.

"Their daughter has a huge family," Thomas said. "She has lots of aunts and uncles."

Both Scott, a computer science major, and Sharon, a dual major in environmental studies and biology, are on academic scholarships. Sharon missed two semesters right after Autumn was born, but she went to summer school and is back on track to graduate this spring. Maintaining a perfect grade-point average, Sharon was even named the school's scholar-athlete last year.

Both Jensens also are active off the track and out of the classroom. Sharon is involved in student government, and Scott works part time and is in the Army Reserve.

Still, both Jensens train hard and are committed to their practice schedules.

"They're all business," Thomas said. "They manage their time very well. Maybe, in some ways, it's better because they don't have the distractions other students have. You can point to them and say, 'If these two can do it, anybody can.'"

Last year Scott won the KSC Invitational, his first collegiate victory, and the Owls went on to finish seventh at the NCAA Division III championships. Scott earned all-America status by finishing ninth.

Last year during the outdoor season, he finished fifth nationally in the Division III 5,000-meter race, again earning all-America honors.

This year, the Owls want to bring home a national championship, as does Scott Jensen.

"My personal goal is to be a national champion, and in doing so, help bring home a trophy for my team," he said. "And I'd like to be an all-American in two events in both indoor and outdoor track."

Even if those goals aren't all realized, Scott and Sharon Jensen will have graduated with honors, raised their daughter themselves and competed at a high level in intercollegiate athletics, all at the same time. They might have just a few stories to tell Autumn when she gets older.