Girls Track and Field: Burlington Central’s Paige Greenhagel enjoyed decorated career, left legacy as role model

BURLINGTON – On Burlington Central’s girls track Senior Night celebration, a teammate of Paige Greenhagel left a written message to Greenhagel she won’t soon forget.

“I had one teammate that had written in one of her notes that she looked up to me and it made me feel really good that I can be a role model for some of those people,” Greenhagel said. “And just show them how to keep pushing even when you might be struggling in certain situations.”

Greenhagel, the Rockets’ track and field star who graduated this spring, earned three more state track medals at the state finals in May. She took eighth in the 400-meter dash, ninth in high jump and third in long jump in her final bow in Charleston.

For her accomplishments, Greenhagel is the 2023 Kane County Chronicle Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

Her excellence on the track is only one aspect of her accomplishments. The impact left as a teammate might be just as impressive.

“I didn’t know her very well at first when she joined track‚” said Central’s Keira Heindl, a two-year teammate of Greenhagel. “She was very humble all the time. It was really fun to watch her run and dominate the track. We’d be behind and she’d just get us in first. It was amazing to see. So many of the teammates, you could see them, just [would] light up. It was the most exciting events to watch the 4x4 run because she was the last leg and would kill it.”

For Senior Night, each athlete had a poster with their picture and name on it. Some teammates only signed their names as a memento. Heindl took it a step further.

“She just inspired me so much,” Heindl said. “She was so humble. Everybody would say it. Even on other teams, they knew her name. She would just smile and wave. She would never gloat, brag, taunt, nothing like that. I just wanted to write her a note so she knew that it was from my perspective that I saw that. ... I wanted her to know it was rubbing off on people.”

Greenhagel leaves Central highly decorated. Her sophomore season, she helped the 4x100 relay take 12th and the 4x200 finish ninth at the state meet.

“When Paige first came out for track, we as coaches had to talk her into it,” Central coach Vince Neil said. “She was a basketball player as her priority sport, so track was something she said she would do to ‘test’ it out.”

It only ascended.

As a junior, Greenhagel took fourth at state in the high jump, eighth in the 4x200 relay, 10th in the long jump and 14th in the 4x400 relay.

“Paige’s ability to compete at a high level across all her events shows her strength, endurance, competitiveness and maturity,” Neil said. “Paige constantly transitions from one event to another and gives her team 100% effort in everything that she does.”

Greenhagel said she’s most proud of being open-minded about running different events and trying new things.

“When I started out sophomore year, I was very set on running shorter distances,” she said. “But as my coaches talked me into trying new things, I appreciated them doing that and helping me to find running a 400 actually became one of my favorite events.”

As for advice to young women trying track and field for the first time, Greenhagel stresses staying open-minded.

“Because even when you get put into an event that you might not think you’ll be good at, trying it once could change that opinion for you,” Greenhagel said.