At Emory University's home track meets this year in late March and April, one spectator was such a diehard fan of the team that she stayed at the meet longer than most athletes: senior Michelle Menzies. She highlighted her various friends on the Emory track and field team who were running at the meet, a list of over 30 people, so she wouldn't miss any of her friends' performances. She would stay both days of both meets to watch her friends run, a feat indicating a monumental dedication to a team she is not even a part of.

"Having my heat sheet tells me who's watching each race so I'm not missing anyone race," Michelle said.

"She may not be a runner, but every athlete needs that friend who will support them no matter what happens on race day," said senior track athlete, Greg Litle.

Michelle grew up in a hockey family where she traveled to her brother's hockey games every weekend, and would describe her self as the "odd one out" as the only member of her family to not play hockey. Instead, she danced, and when she first came to Emory University as a freshman, the situation was different.

"I came to Emory not knowing what I could rally behind, because sports fans are not quite the emphasis here," Michelle said. "But then I met Will and Dan. I went to track meets with one of my friends, Delphine. We went to all the home meets that year."

Michelle's connections with the track team started freshman year, when she lived on the same floor as two athletes on the team: now seniors, Will Siuta and Dan Pietsch. The next year, by chance, she happened to be on the same floor as Will and Dan again and became friends with their suitemates: seniors Rob Wilhelm and Greg Litle.

"Through the four of them I met a bunch of people and found this group of people I really liked," she said. "Once I was able to meet so many people, it made watching track meets more fun so I could cheer for a whole variety of people, not just people in one race."

Not to toot my own horn, but I met Michelle last year when I was incredibly drunk at a party with no means of getting home. Michelle drove me home, voluntarily, out of the goodness of her heart, and since then I've felt like she's been a close friend every time she's around, despite our limited interactions.

While Michelle attributed her ability to seemingly make instant friends on our team to our strong and cohesive community, the other people I reached out to about this article attributed her status as the biggest fan of the Emory track and field team to her own inherent qualities, and one above all: her infectiously positive personality that makes other people believe in themselves.

Senior athlete Jason McCartney had this to say about Michelle's positivity:

"I've known Michelle since freshman year. She is one of the sweetest girls I've met. Every time I see her, she has a huge smile on. Truly a great person," Jason said.

Junior team members, Ian George and Ari Newhouse, had more to add:

"When I think back on it, I really haven't actually spent that much time with Michelle, but whenever I see her around I feel like I'm seeing a close friend. She has one of those infectious personalities that you can't help but be made happy by," Ian said.

"Whenever she's at a meet she truly is invested in seeing everyone race, and makes every athlete feel like they have someone cheering them on who isn't just a teammate, a parent or a coach. She may not be a runner, but every athlete needs that friend who will support them no matter what happens on race day."

"Michelle has an infectious personality. Her bright demeanor and happy disposition make it impossible not to enjoy your time around her. She has this way of transforming situations around her to spin them positively. There's honestly no one I'd rather have supporting our team," Ari finished.

Michelle's positive qualities clearly give more back to the track team than the track team has given to her. In Michelle's other communities on campus, namely her various dance groups and the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, I am confident that her infectiously positive personality helps to reinforce the same qualities she values on the Emory track and field team of being welcoming and cohesive. As part of her lifelong passion for dance, Michelle helped start the Ballet Club at Emory this year.

As a computer science and Chinese double major, Michelle will be a technology consultant next year at EY in Chicago. With graduation looming very soon, the transition is something that she looks forward to, but describes as "terrifying." For Michelle, the moments she will miss the most in college are those of being in close proximity to people and groups of people your own age, moments that wouldn't happen at any other point of life.

"I'm thinking specifically of sophomore year of the times when I would just sit in Greg and Dan's room, not particularly doing anything, but just sitting there. They would be doing work, and I would just sit there."

"You're put into these relationships that aren't typical. Before college, I hadn't been friends with many guys, and because of where I was living, I was able to develop more as a person that I became friends with these guys and I became a better person.

"Those relationships are very defining factors. They've shaped who I've become."

Again, it's important to note that Michelle has given far more to the Emory track and field team than she has received. Although seniors Will Siuta and Dan Pietsch are no longer on the Emory track team, they captured best what made the improbable status that Michelle has developed as the team's number one supporter and fan.

"Michelle's bright smile and sparkling eyes fill the world with joy. And her perfect hair is so nice, but not too red that it's in your face. It's the perfect red, like a fine wine," Will said. "Michelle enjoys making people smile. We called her our "hall mother" our freshman year."

"Michelle has been one of my best friends since freshman year. Her network of friendship has just kept growing to more and more track people and now she knows so many people. And I think that just speaks to the type of person she is," Dan said.

"She's just so sweet and friendly and willing to meet new people and be a part of their lives. I was one of the first she was friends with on the team, but I had a pretty minimal role in her becoming friends with so much of the team. It was her making these close connections with people and really caring about them, and then meeting more people as a result. I hadn't realized until recently how much of the team she knows but it's pretty amazing."

I'm sure that I've only captured a snapshot of the person Michelle is, and that there are many more moments that define the altruistic and positive person she is in other spaces. But Michelle finished reflecting on the past four years with some of her best friends with this:

"It's just really weird that I've become such a part of this community. I just wouldn't have expected it. If you had told me freshman year that I would become friends with so many people on the track team, I would have told you you were crazy," she said.

"It's such a big part of my college career that I wasn't expecting."