What once-reluctant ado­les­cent run­ner became an All-American ath­lete? What may sound like a Hollywood script has in fact hap­pened at Ferris State University.

When Tina Muir began run­ning com­pet­i­tively in mid­dle school, she wasn’t fond of the sport. However, encour­aged by friends and coaches, she stuck with it.

Tina, who is enter­ing her senior sea­son, is widely regarded as one of FSU’s all-time great cross coun­try and track run­ners. The St. Albans, United Kingdom, native acknowl­edged the dis­tinc­tion as a “great honor” but only after let­ting out a mod­est chuckle.

“I don’t feel like I’ve achieved all I can yet,” Tina said. “I have a lot more to give.”

While in high school, Tina’s coach put her in con­tact with a for­mer assis­tant coach under for­mer FSU head coach Jeff Kavalunas. Having long wanted to attend col­lege in the United States but unable to sup­port her ambi­tion finan­cially, she made the deci­sion to become a Bulldog student-athlete.

“As cheesy as it sounds, it [the United States] is the land of oppor­tu­nity,” Tina said. “It’s great to be sur­rounded by peo­ple who are as pas­sion­ate about the sport as I am.”

In her col­le­giate career thus far; Tina is a three-time cross coun­try All-American, GLIAC Commissioner’s Award win­ner and two-time Dean Davenport “Bulldog of the Year” award recipient.

Last spring, she also earned All-American hon­ors in two events at the 2011 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In the first day of action, Tina placed fifth over­all in the 10,000 meters with a school-record time of 34:20.99. It was Tina’s sec­ond time ever rac­ing the event. The next day, she fin­ished sixth over­all in the 5,000 meters.

Earning All-American sta­tus for these per­for­mances was espe­cially mean­ing­ful to Tina. In January, she tore her soleus (calf mus­cle) and was forced to not run for an entire month.

“I raced bet­ter at the National meet than I ever could have imag­ined,” she said. “If you have a goal that you really believe you deserve and you are will­ing to be patient while you put in the time and hard work, you can reach that goal and may even be sur­prised with the result.”

A year ago, FSU’s women’s cross coun­try team recorded the high­est fin­ish in school his­tory as they placed eighth at the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships. According to Tina, this year’s team is “really strong” with con­tri­bu­tions expected from every class as they work towards a fourth con­sec­u­tive national cham­pi­onships appearance.

“A top five fin­ish [nation­ally] would be ideal,” she said. “But we’re try­ing not to put pres­sure on our­selves and just do our best.”

Individually, Tina’s goals for this sea­son are to “improve upon last year” and repeat as the regional cham­pion while lead­ing her team­mates by example.

“I try and live my life in a way that allows me to reach my full poten­tial,” she said.

Tina’s ulti­mate goal is to rep­re­sent Great Britain in a major inter­na­tional cham­pi­onship event. After grad­u­a­tion, she plans to con­tinue her train­ing and believes her great­est abil­ity lies in marathons as “it is the per­fect event” for the way she races.

“I do not ever see myself not run­ning,” Tina said. “It is such a huge part of my life.”

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