Feature Friday Series: Martina Conner
For this week's Feature Friday we have freshman Martina Conner. Conner is from Christchurch, New Zealand, where she attended Cashmere High School. While in New Zealand, Conner was a member of the Port Hills Athletic Club where she was able to get quite a few titles under her belt. These include claiming gold in the 5k at the New Zealand Championships, with a time of 19:24 in the U18 race, bronze twice in the 3k in 2019, as well as completing the 2019 calendar year with six top-10 finishes.
Conner takes her inspiration for track & field from her former coach in New Zealand, Craig Kirkwood, as well as from other renowned athletes she was able to train alongside. Conner had previously visited Utah on a family holiday, and when the Utah coaches reached out, she knew that the University of Utah was the perfect place thanks to her family's affinity for the outdoors growing up.
Conner is currently double majoring in economics and political science with the hopes of working in that field in the future. She is most looking forward to racing and bonding even more with teammates, and continuing to do what she loves throughout her time here at the U.
Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Orange
Q: If you could visit anywhere in the world where would it be?
A: The Himalayas in Nepal
Q: Who is your biggest athletic inspiration?
A: Lucy Charles Barclay
Q: What's your least favorite food?
A: I'm the least fussy person
Q: What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
A: Mango sorbet
Q: What is your favorite song/artist at the moment?
A: Literally changes every day, today either Bryson Tiller or J. Cole
Q: If you had a superpower what would it be?
A: The ability to mind read but then I'd probably get offended
Q: If you could be friends with any professional athlete who would it be?
A: Matthew Centrowitz, type of guy that just does his own vibe
Q: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
A: Watermelon
Q: What is your favorite part of being at the University of Utah?
A: I love Salt Lake City, it's such a good combination with the mountains and outdoorsy aspect and then also the team is amazing and really motivating to train with
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: I'm not a big movie person because cannot sit still for that long but Game Night definitely made me laugh a lot
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: New Girl
Q: If you were stranded on an island and were able to take one person with you, who would you take?
A: Annie Murdock and Delaney Gates (it's a package deal)
Q: What is your dream job?
A: Probably humanitarian work; either disaster relief in a 3rd world country or there are some foundations that work against child trafficking that'd be really impactful to work for
Q: What is your future profession?
A: Well hopefully it's my dream job, I'm currently double majoring in economics and political science and hopefully things play out so I can get into this sector
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