MacKenzie Brown’s secret for playing three varsity sports while excelling academically and undertaking internships that will set her on the path to a law career?

“I sacrifice a lot of sleep,” Brown said.

That’s just the way Brown, a senior at Rensselaer High School, likes it.

“It’s been a lot of hard work and time management, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s really what I love to do,” she said. “It’s just an amazing experience to be a three-sport athlete, and it’s honestly an honor.”

A three-sport athlete at Rensselaer in track and field, soccer and basketball, Brown is one of 10 high school honorees for the inaugural Capital District Sports Women of the Year awards, which also sees three college athletes recognized.

It’s on the track where Brown has made her biggest athletic impact, holding three Rensselaer school records — one on her own in the steeplechase, two as part of the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams.

Brown, who said her favorite event is the hurdles, is willing to stretch herself over any distance.

“Each race has its own challenges,” Brown said. “Steeplechase is so hard because it’s a long race with the big barriers, and then there’s the water, but 4×1 is also hard because, even though it’s a shorter race, you put all of your energy into that and you have to get the baton perfectly. You don’t want to be the one that messes that up for the rest of your team.”

The melding of the team and individual is what attracts Brown to track and field the most.

“I can win a race by myself,” she said, “but you have relays and you can also win as an entire team. Personal achievements are good, but the team achievements are the better ones.”

Brown was also a team captain and starter for the Rensselaer soccer team and maintains a 95 average in the classroom as a member of the National Honor Society. She’s received numerous awards for her athletic and academic achievements.

Outside of school, Brown is a dedicated volunteer whose community service includes assisting as an organizer for a youth summit through the Troy Drug Free Community Coalition, collecting clothes for Jeans for Teens through Circles of Mercy and volunteering with organizations like the Red Cross Blood Drive, Rensselaer Christmas in the City, Trunk or Treat through RADAR and the Kiwanis Club Community Pancake Breakfast.

“I always like to stay moving, stay doing something,” Brown said. “There’s 24 hours in a day, and if I can volunteer and make someone happy, but also be part of a team, I’d rather do that than anything else.”

Brown also gets immense satisfaction from her internships at Albany Law School and Rensselaer City Court, which she hopes will pave the way for studying criminal justice in college and eventually attending law school herself.

Brown interns in the domestic violence clinic at Albany Law School, getting to both sit in on classes “with actual college kids who are in law school. That’s amazing,” and assist students in the clinic with their casework.

“They don’t treat me like I’m just some high school kid that doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” Brown said. “They realize that I have potential and I have the drive to know where I want to go in life. That has been a great tool to help me get there.”

This article appeared in the 2020 CDSWOY Awards Program on August 18, 2020.

RPI women’s lacrosse senior Liz Brady’s mind was already made up well before the NCAA awarded an additional year of eligibility for all spring sports student-athletes after this year’s campaigns were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Brady missed the 2018 season because of a torn ACL, and she is planning to return to RPI next year as a graduate student.

While her college career has included its share of obstacles, it’s also included numerous accomplishments. The latest is that Brady, who is from Bradford, Massachusetts, is one of the three college recipients of the inaugural Capital District Sports Women of the Year, while 10 area high school athletes are also being honored.

“I’m really grateful for it,” Brady said. “It’s a really cool honor. I know it’s the first time that they’ve had this award. I think it’s really cool to be a part of the inaugural class. It’s one of those things that I didn’t do alone. I honestly had my team and my coaches, all of RPI athletics kind of with me.

“It’s really humbling to get that, but also really cool. I didn’t do it alone. I did it with my team.”

Brady is bio medical engineering major and has a 3.10 grade-point average in that. Her GPA for the fall semester was 3.55. She will go for her MBA next year and looks to go into the medical device and orthopedic field.

“I was actually planning on getting my master’s at RPI, so I will already be there for a fifth year,” Brady said. “I had an extra year because of my torn ACL. That was also in the back of my brain, depending how my body made it through the [2019] season.”

The torn ACL she suffered was the second of her career. The other one happened in high school. Going through the rehab process after the first torn ACL helped her get through the second one.

“The first time I did it, it wasn’t ‘if’ I’m going to come back, it was ‘when,’” Brady said. “The second time when I was there, I was in the same mentality, where like, OK, this kind of sucks and it’s not fun, but now I know what I have to do. I already knew what the road was like, and I recovered well from my first one. I’m just like, ‘All right, it’s not going to get better until I have surgery.’ I just went for it. I went to Boston, had surgery and was rehabbing. I was able to run before the season ended, but was able to be with my team the entire time. They also made a difference because I was still traveling with them and still a part of everything that we did.”

Away from the field and classroom, Brady is part of the RPI sports information department, working as photographer. It’s a relaxing job for her.

“I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures,” Brady said. “I love working with them. The sports information staff is amazing.”

Brady participates in several community activities, too. She is proud of the projects that take place with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

“That includes the Special Olympics days,” Brady said. “That’s been one of my favorite events. I have a couple of cousins who are special needs. I grew up going to their Special Olympics events. As I got older, I volunteered at them.”

This article appeared in the 2020 CDSWOY Awards Program on August 18, 2020.