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Kelsey Kane                  Class: Junior Hometown: Knoxville, Tenn. High School: West Height: 5-5 Experience: 2L

CAREER BESTS

4K: 15:34.57 (2011)
5K: 18:48.85 (2011)
6K: 22:48.6 (2011)

2011: Having never been in the top five for Tennessee prior to this season, she was a factor in UT's top five in five of six meets in 2011...Ran third for the Big Orange at the NCAA South Regional, clocking a 6K personal best of 22:48.6 to finish 92nd...Was out of the top five at the SEC Championships, but she recorded a then-6K PR of 22:53.00, ran sixth for the Lady Vols and placed 70th overall...Posted a career-best 5K readout of 18:48.85 to run fourth for Tennessee and 43rd overall at the Crimson Classic...Filled the No. 4 slot and wound up 246th overall in a then-6K career-best 23:23 at the Brooks Paul Short Run...Ran fifth for J.J. Clark and placed 12th overall in 19:30.44 on the 5K trail at the Tennessee Invitational...Made her first scoring appearance for the Lady Vols in the Belmont-VU Opener, finishing 42nd overall and third for UT with a career-best time of 15:34.57.

2010: Competed in her first SEC Championship meet, placing 96th in 24:28.20...Made season debut at two-mile Front Runner Invitational, finishing 36th in 12:29...That marked her first cross country race since September 2009.

2009: Made one appearance as a redshirt freshman...Placed seventh for Tennessee and was 66th overall at the Belmont-VU Opener in 16:52.92.

2008: Redshirted during her first season at Tennessee.

HIGH SCHOOL: Ran track four years and cross country for three at Knoxville's West High School...Helped the Rebels claim state track & field team titles in 2006 and 2008...Earned all-state accolades all four seasons on the oval and her final three years in cross country...Posted Class AAA state cross country finishes of eighth as a senior, 10th as a junior and fifth as a sophomore...Charted a 5K PR of 18:57 in finishing 72nd at the 2007 Foot Locker South Regional Cross Country Championships in Charlotte, N.C....Was all-state in track in the 800m, mile, 3,200m and 4x800m relay in each of her final three seasons...Named Knoxville Interscholastic League Outstanding Distance Runner in April 2008 after claiming victory in both the 1,600m and 3,200m...Prep PRs include 18:57 for 5K and 19:25.52 for three miles in cross country, and 5:10.15 for 1,600m, 5:15.63 for the mile, 11:20.36 for 3,200m and 2:21.37 for 800m on the oval.

PERSONAL: Majoring in journalism and electronic media...Mother is a Lady Vol Hall of Famer and a TV personality, and was a 1984 U.S. Olympian middle distance runner and the coach of UT's 1990 SEC Cross Country Championship team during Kelsey's first year of life...Stepfather is a UT professor and a former UT men's volunteer assistant who coached 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tim Mack among a host of others...Has one sibling: Gracie Bemiller...Kelsey Catherine Kane was born in Knoxville, Tenn., on Aug. 17, 1990...Her parents are Missy (Alston) Kane Bemiller and Jim Bemiller.

UT junior cross country runner Kelsey Kane has emerged from the proverbial wilderness after two years of working her way through pain, surgery and rehab for a condition called compartment syndrome. While many athletes may have hung up their spikes due to the adversity, the product of Knoxville's West High School stayed the course and finds herself contributing to the Lady Vol cause this season.

Kane attributes her determination to growing up in a supportive family, one that is chock-full of UT ties and with both parents being members of the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame. Her mom, known to Knoxvillians as Missy Kane, is a former Lady Vol runner who went on to qualify for the 1984 Olympic Games in the 1500 meters. She transitioned into coaching, guiding the UT women's cross country program from 1988 to 1991, winning an SEC title in 1990 and fashioning a pair of top-15 NCAA finishes. A frequent television color analyst for track & field, Missy has her own local TV fitness show and is active in health initiatives in the community.

Kelsey's stepfather, Jim Bemiller, blazed his own trail with the UT track & field program. Bemiller worked with the Vols' pole vaulters from 1986 to 2005, producing five NCAA titles, 15 SEC crowns and 21 All-America certificates. Two of his pupils were 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist and record-holder Tim Mack and 2000 silver medalist and American record-holder Lawrence Johnson. Bemiller, who earned his master's and law degrees from Tennessee, now focuses his attention on teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses in sport law and sport governance at the school and serves as a faculty advisor for the adidas Partners in Sports program.

Despite the rich athletics heritage in her household, and the fact she was born just prior to her mother's 1990 SEC Women's Cross Country Championship season, Kelsey Kane felt no pressure to follow in her parents' footsteps. Running was something that she simply came to enjoy while pursuing a variety of activities as a child. That decision has turned out pretty well, even after the difficulties she's been through the past couple of years. She has scored in all four meets this season for Tennessee and posted career bests at 4000-, 5000- and 6000-meter race distances.

On Oct. 31, Kane will join her Lady Vol teammates, as UT plays host to the SEC Cross Country Championships at Lambert Acres Golf Club in Maryville. You can bet she'll be running with the full support of her family and embracing those "UT Family Ties."