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Stroup to be a two-sport athlete at Mansfield

Wildcat star to play hoops, field hockey

Sentinel file photo
Greenwood High School’s Kenedy Stroup, left, drives to the basket during the 2020 District 3 Class A Championship game. Stroup, who finished off a storied athletic career for the Wildcats, will play field hockey and basketball at Division II Mansfield University.

MILLERSTOWN — Few players have the physical ability to star in multiple sports, but Greenwood’s Kenedy Stroup often made it look easy.

Stroup was an elite point guard who excelled with the ball in her hand, with an uncanny ability to fight through contact and finish at the basket, while converting points at the free-throw line at a high clip. Stroup finished with 1,487 points, 569 rebounds and 355 assists in 111 career games. She averaged 19.7 points per game as a senior.

Her talent was just as evident on the field hockey field where she won a PIAA championship as a sophomore and added two more District 3 championships as a junior and senior.

Her skillset led to an opportunity to play one or both sports in college and late in her senior year, Stroup was given the chance to play both sports at Division II Mansfield University. She quickly went through the process to join the Mounties.

“It’s pretty awesome to be able to [play both sports],” Stroup said. “Especially at the Division II level. It will be challenging but coaches there have been very supportive and believe that I am going to be capable of doing that and that’s what really helped me reach my decision to go to Mansfield.”

Mansfield competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, which is one of the best divisions in the country for field hockey, as the conference is home to every NCAA champion this decade.

Stroup also considered Lock Haven University and Susquehanna University but only Susquehanna gave her the chance to play both sports. Lock Haven recruited Stroup to play field hockey.

“It was a long process. My first visit was back last spring when I visited Lock Haven,” Stroup said. “Just recently I started talking to the Mansfield coaches, so it was a good process getting through that with them. It was just the best fit for me with the coaches being supportive of me and what they saw in me.”

Greenwood basketball coach Jeff Deitz saw Stroup’s athleticism as soon as she stepped onto the court as a freshman for the Wildcats. Stroup led by example and was a player that never gave anything less than 100 percent.

“She is going to be a dual-sport athlete at a Division II college which is pretty incredible. Her athleticism alone is pretty incredible. She’s just a great athlete,” Deitz said. “She is a quiet workhorse. She never misses a workout, never took a day off and never didn’t give 100 percent from the time she came in as a freshman.

“She essentially was our point guard right away,” Deitz continued. “You always get to watch players grow, but from the point guard position specifically, she had the ball in her hands almost every possession we had for the last four years, so to watch her turn in the career she did — almost 1,500 points — but just her junior and senior season have been impressive, and being able to coach her has just been a lot of fun. She’s a great kid.”

In her senior season, Stroup missed most of the field hockey season battling an illness but was able to come back in time for the Wildcats’ postseason run.

“I actually missed half of the season with mono,” Stroup said. “That was a challenge sitting out and watching everyone else practice and play. I had a hunger to get back on the field and once I was able to, I got back on the field for playoffs, which I was really fortunate to be able to do. We got back to the District 3 championship game like last year and we won which was pretty awesome. To make it to the Final 4 in states again was awesome.”

Her favorite memory on the field hockey field included winning a state title while scoring in the 2018 District 3 title game.

“My favorite memories would be winning the state championship my sophomore year and then back-to-back district championships,” Stroup said. “In my junior year, I actually scored the game-winning goal in overtime, which was an awesome memory I will never forget.”

Her favorite memories on the basketball court were the rivalry games with Susquenita.

“My favorite memory would be our battles with Susquenita,” she said. “We have a strong rivalry and we split our games two-to-two this year. Both games were back and forth, and our point differential was like one point, which was crazy. I think I will miss that rivalry a lot. We all know each other, and it was always fun to go out there and see who had the better team that night.”

With her stellar play in her final two seasons, Stroup earned All-State third-team honors for the Wildcats, which is something she is proud of and has encouraged her in her career.

“It just keeps you going and inspires you to keep working because good things like that will come,” she said. “Obviously, none of that would have been possible without my teammates there to help. It just is really humbling to be able to receive these awards and be recognized with some of the best players in our area.”

Her determination and ability to fight through adversity are some of the special characteristics that Deitz believes made Stroup a winner on and off the court.

“She wasn’t the most vocal player that you would see out there but leading by example is a great way to put it,” Deitz said. “Her determination to win was apparent all the time. When you saw emotion in Kenedy Stroup in the locker room after games it was when something went wrong. After we lost she would make sure she bounced back harder than she played that night and that’s where her leadership really came in. Her ability to bounce back was really admirable.”

As a senior, Stroup led the Wildcats to the District 3 Class A championship game where Greenwood fell to Lancaster Country Day and eventually moved on to the second round of the PIAA tournament. Stroup won 74 games in her high school basketball career.

“It was really awesome because [the district title game] was always our goal throughout the season, to get back to that game,” Stroup said. “After every practice, Coach Deitz would put the score of last year’s title game on the board to inspire us to practice harder and work harder to get back there and have another chance. The outcome was not what we wanted, but it was still a testament of our hard work and what we accomplished during the season and that’s just what we were working for. To be able to get into states and get into the second round was cool as well.”

Stroup’s goals for her freshman year of college are to find her place on both the basketball and field hockey teams, earn some playing time, leading to more chances.

“At least my first year, I want to go out there and get the chance to work hard enough and get on the field or on the court to play and get an opportunity,” she said. “Once one opportunity comes, it opens the door for many more. I’m just excited to go there and give it my all and show them what I can do so I can hopefully get that chance.”

Stroup thanked her parents, teammates and coaches for helping her find success.

“My parents have been a big support system through all of this, and my dad would help a lot at home with basketball and at practices,” Stroup said. “He coaches all of us and tries to get me to be the best player I can be which is something I’m really thankful for.

“I want to thank all of my coaches in hockey and basketball, because they have just been amazing and being able to be coached by them — I wouldn’t have wanted any other coaches than the ones I had. Without my teammates, none of our success would have been possible and all of my teammates in field hockey and in basketball were really close because it is such a small school and it has just been great to play with them.”

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