Centre’s Serena McNeilly Went From Australia to State Track Champion to Rising College Athlete (2024)

Serena McNeilly moved from Australia to Kentucky in June of 2021 and never imagined she would become a state track champion or be a college track athlete like she is now at Centre College.

“I wanted to try a new sport when I moved to Kentucky with my mother so I just picked up track. I knew I wanted to be a jumper and do those kinds of events,” said the Centre College freshman. “I was a gymnast for 12 years in Australia. I just wanted to try something new. It was a big change.”

Her mother decided to move back to America to “help out” with McNeilly’s grandparents. That led her to Central Hardin High School since her mother was from the Elizabethtown area originally before moving to Australia.

But why track?

“Being a gymnast, I like more individual sports. Track is individual and team. I could use all the strength training and agility from gymnastics and just translate over to track,” she said. “I was a good gymnast but I was a bit tall. I found I was more built for track.

“I just bounced around a bit between events. I started in the 400 (meter run) and mid distance events and then I decided to try the high jump and then the long jump. I noticed there were not many people competing in the triple jump, so I caught on to that pretty quickly. I picked up the hurdles. I was just kind of all over the place.”

Her second year in Kentucky she won a state championship in the triple jump — she had placed in three events at the state meet her junior year — with a leap of 38 feet, 2 1/4 inches. It was Central Hardin’s first individual state championship win. She was also third in the high jump and fourth in the long jump also.

“I had no idea it was the school’s first state championship. I was just honestly trying to get the best jump possible. I was not even aware I had won until the end,” McNeilly said.

Centre College started recruiting McNeilly after the 2022 state track meet. However, attending the Maximum Velocity Track & Field where she worked with former USA Olympic assistant coach Gwen Mikinski convinced her Centre was the right fit.

“The camp just solidified everything I already thought,” she said.

Centre College coach Lisa Owens envisioned McNeilly as a heptathlete where she would compete in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run. However, plans for this season changed when McNeilly fractured her wrist.

“I was definitely training for the heptathlon when I fell on the hurdles and broke my wrist. It put a hold on a lot of events but I am still interested in doing that,” she said.

McNeilly had a cast from her wrist to elbow that limited what training she could do in the fall. She finally got out of the cast in January before Centre’s first indoor meet.

“I barely practiced before the first meet,” she said.

That didn’t stop her from having a sensational collegiate debut. Her first meet she tied the Centre indoor record in the high jump with a jump of 5-3. That prompted her to compete in another meet the next day when she broke the high jump record by going 5-4 1/2. If that wasn’t enough, she leaped 37-2 1/4.

“I have no idea what I can do this year or what my best event will be,” she said. “That is the fun part. I just want to work on all my events. I think I enjoy high jump the most but in terms of which one I am best at I have no idea.”

She went 37-4 in the triple jump at Centre’s Indoor Invite — the first meet in Centre’s new facility — to finish second behind teammate Jasmine Claunch and won the high jump by clearing 5-3.

“Jasmine is great. I have loved training with her. She is very energetic and encouraging,” McNeilly said. “She has been very helpful to me. We have talked a lot.”

McNeilly stays in touch with friends in Australia who she doubts “understand American sports” other than track is something she enjoys, so they encourage her.

“Honestly, I think I have adjusted pretty well now to being in America. There are not too many differences but every once in a while I am still like, ‘I am in a different country.’ It’s nice here. I enjoy it other than missing seafood,” the Centre freshman said.

She does perhaps appreciate Centre’s new indoor facility more than most of her teammates.

“It’s a nice climate to train in. There is not a lot of cold weather in Australia. The climate is a lot more severe here. I don’t know what I would be doing if we had to be training outside right now,” McNeilly said.

The Centre freshman participated in soccer, dancing, swimming and other activities before committing to gymnastics.

“Gymnastics was scary every day to me. That is another reason I like track so much. I don’t feel track is as mentally taxing as gymnastics. I had a few injuries in gymnastics but nothing major. I made it through 12 years of gymnastics with no major injuries and then in two years of track I broke my wrist,” McNeilly said. “I like hurdling. I don’t even know how I feel. I can’t hurdle now but I want to continue hurdling.”

That’s a must to be a heptathlete where she says her biggest struggles have been in the throws. She also admits she’s “not much of a distance runner” but wants to push her to become a winning heptathlete.

“Being a gymnast, I was used to always training so I will do what the coaches need me to do to get better,” she said. “I am really hoping to qualify for (NCAA Division III) nationals indoor and outdoor. I have been set back a bit by my injury but I am determined to get to nationals.”