No cutting Corners: Lope jumps to NCAA role

Throughout the final three years of her Grand Canyon career, track and field senior Mia Corners took leaps into athletic department roles just as she did the long jump pit and handled curves swiftly in her campus roles and on the GCU track.

Corners, Mia

On her fast track, Corners' expanding responsibility put her in the same workspace as GCU academic coordinator Katy Keenan, associate athletic director for student-athlete development Nicole Alderson and Vice President for Athletics Jamie Boggs.

That influence of female role models now has Corners envisioning careers in their shoes after she removes the track spikes for the final time this spring.

Mia Corners

Corners entered GCU as a quiet, timid 17-year-old girl from Yuma, Arizona, and will graduate in April as a bold, confident woman who already is making a major career move.

Corners was one of two graduating seniors nationally to be selected for the Leadership Development cohort of the NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program, where her yearlong salary position at the national headquarters in Indianapolis will start in June. Only 22 student-athlete graduates were picked for the overall program.

"They have shaped me into the young professional that I am now," Corners said of Keenan, Alderson and Boggs. "Coming in as a little freshman, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. Clearly, I changed my major four times.

"I used free time (from injuries) for personal development and professional development and developing my teammates around me and other peers. That put me in a light to know that I liked leadership and cultivating an inclusive environment for the people around me to be seen and heard."

Corners had several people in her corner at GCU, starting with Lopes head coach track and field Tom Flood. He recruited her from Gila Ridge High School and then "volun-told" her to be the team representative for GCU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Already coming off an anterior cruciate ligament repair on her knee and then dealt the setbacks of indoor and outdoor seasons canceled by COVID, Corners found her lane off the track too. She loved being able to help fellow student-athletes with the programs tjat GCU offers to improve their academics and prepare them for postgraduate life.

"She's always been different and sees the bigger picture," said Keenan, who met Corners as a sophomore participant in the Building Champions Leadership Academy. "She really believes in what GCU is doing and the why behind everything. She invested and bought into all the things we're doing in Athletics. She started attending every event that we had and volunteering for any opportunity that we sent out."

Mia Corners Corners competed through a torn hip labrum as a sophomore. A week after recovering from that to return last year, she learned at a meet that she had another torn ACL and was just cleared to return to action at the outset of this indoor season in December. Also a long jumper and sprinter, Corners was part of the Lopes' 1,600-meter relay team that won at Northern Arizona this month.

"I just want to leave it all out there, whether that is PRing (setting a personal record) and winning WAC or being the best cheerleader I can be," Corners said. "This year has been by far my favorite year because I'm healed and able to be in a good mental space where I can really support my teammates, be whatever my coaches want to be and be who God wants me to be."

Corners was planning on teaching or pursuing a corporate job until Keenan and Alderson nominated her to attend the NCAA Career in Sports Forum, an annual educational event for almost 200 student-athletes.

Corners was chosen to attend at the Indianapolis event and the self-described "sponge" soaked up the offerings, thinking, "Whoa, I love this." She started to envision herself on the career path of Keenan, Alderson and Boggs. She also met with that NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program staff.

"She turned around from the table she was sitting at, looked at me and raised her eyebrows," Keenan said.

Although initially fearful of a move to Indiana, the native Arizonan applied for the NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program at the encouragement of Keenan and Alderson. She navigated the five-page application and made it to the round of a Zoom interview before advancing to an in-person interview in Indianapolis.

Three days before the interview, she was given a prompt for which she would need to do a 20-minute presentation to the selection committee. Tasked with teaching the committee members something pertinent in her life, Corners showed them how to use an iPad art platform and explained how it had been part of her self-care through a myriad of serious injuries.

Mia Corners "I left it all out there," Corners said. "I'm really so much more than a track athlete. That's what I've learned throughout my years here."

She plans to learn more at the NCAA and beyond, with plans to earn a master's degree and a doctorate in women's leadership. The NCAA program will provide her with comprehensive training, mentor assignments and networking opportunities.

"I am extremely excited and proud of Mia for being selected for the NCAA Postgraduate Internship Program," Alderson said. "This is a great opportunity for Mia to continue to grow and develop as a leader and continue to build her network. I have seen Mia grow as a leader as she served in a leadership position here at GCU, currently serving as our SAAC President and the WAC SAAC Vice President. Mia is a bright light and she will be missed on the GCU campus, However, I am excited to see what he future holds for her."

Until then, Corners has more boxes to check with the pursuit of WAC indoor and outdoor championships, a GCU commencement and more duties alongside Keenan, Alderson and Boggs throughout the spring.

"All three of those women have definitely played a big role here in what I'm doing here and what I want to do with my life," Corners said. "They're such strong women, strong leaders and good people. Not only are they in these roles and doing well, they actually genuinely care about me as a person, me as an athlete and me as Mia. Knowing they believed in me so much really meant a lot to me. It made me want to make them proud. They helped me find my purpose and passion outside of being an athlete."

𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚. Mia Corners of @GCU_TrackXC shares her "My Story Matters" for #NCAAInclusion Week. pic.twitter.com/kARXnkplEb
— GCU Lopes (@GCU_Lopes) October 27, 2020

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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Mia Corners

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