Getting to Know: Mikan Gensic

By PATRICK DEKEVER

I sat down with Mikan Gensic of the Unified Track and Field team here at Penn and asked him a few questions about Unified as well as his personal life.

What is the most important message you have learned through athletics?: I have learned that I am capable of contributing to how well the team does (unified track) regardless of how my overall ability level is.

What are your pregame riutals?: I wake up early and have a moderately sized breakfast, so as not to feel rushed for a morning meet. For an after-school meet, I’ll usually drink a protein shake right before my event.

Who is a player that you look up to?: An athlete that I look up to is Lebron James, mainly because of his performance in Games 5 (and) 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

What do you love about representing Penn High School?: A thing I love about representing Penn is the fact that since this is a big school there are so many ways to represent Penn in general.

What traits do you love in a team leader?: A trait I love in a team leader is knowing what each player is good at, plus their personality, and knowing how to apply that in a game/meet to do well.

What advice would you give to a freshman about Penn Athletics?: One piece of advice I would give to an incoming freshman about Penn Athletics is that they can find something they like, but there’s demand for a lot of people to be on every team, so if you want to stand out, you can’t just hope only 10 kids try out for a team.

What is your favorite sports movie and why?: I do not have a favorite sports movie.

What is your favorite pig-out food?: Cheez-It’s.

What do you love about your sport?: One thing I love about Unified Track is how anyone can compete regardless of ability level.

Who is a Penn athlete that you look up to and why?: I look up to Markus Burton the most in terms of Penn athletes because he has contributed a lot to Penn basketball. The boys’ basketball team may not have won a state title last year, but that shows that you don’t need to win state all the time to be noticed.