Quick Chat with Georgia Bulldogs Standout Kelsie Murrell-Ross

Kelsie Murrell-Ross is many things, including kind, charming, funny and athletic.

The Georgia track and field junior from St. David's, Grenada, is also incredibly tall at 6-foot-8. There are more than 37,000 students at the University of Georgia, and she figures she's the tallest woman on campus. She might be the tallest woman in the state.

But Murrell-Ross is much more than her size, even if that's the first thing everyone notices and wants to talk to her about. Understandably, she's regularly asked if she plays on the women's basketball team. If you want to see her face light up, ask her about home, especially the food. She loves where she's from — the place, the people and the culture — and she can't wait to one day settle down there.

After starting her collegiate career at Barton (Kan.) Community College, where she won two NJCAA Division I outdoor shot put national titles, as well as an indoor weight throw title, Murrell-Ross is excelling with the Bulldogs. She won the shot put at last weekend's LSU Invitational with a throw of 57 feet, 10.25 inches.

Last month, she set a Grenadian national record with a throw of 60-1.75. Up next for Murrell-Ross and Georgia's track and field teams is the SEC Outdoor Championships, starting May 9 in Gainesville, Fla.

During a recent Quick Chat with Georgia Sports' John Frierson, Murrell-Ross talked about being tall, her love of home, her favorite Grenadian dish, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:

Frierson: How often are you asked if you play basketball?

Murrell-Ross: Every other day of my life. Everyone is like, "You're doing the wrong sport! You should be doing basketball." And I'm like, "I feel you, but I don't think my knees feel you." I played basketball, but you have to think about your knees. And being from an island, if I continued in basketball and not having the right foot support in my shoes, I would end up needing surgery.

I could have picked basketball, but I just like track and field.

Frierson: What is life like as a 6-8 woman? There aren't too many women or men around that are your height.

Murrell-Ross: Honestly, I think I'm the tallest girl in the school. That's very hard to say, having over 36,000 students.

Frierson: I think you're the tallest woman I've ever met, and I've interviewed a lot of very tall women's basketball players.

Murrell-Ross: I grew up quite normal. I think I was average height until I started high school. I came back from summer break (one year) and out of nowhere, I was taller than all of the boys. I wouldn't say it's a challenge, but it is. I think you have to grow with it in order to understand. Yes, I'm taller than everybody, and every day I get questions or have people look at me, but at the same time, I kind of feel like, if they were tall, they would understand. So I kind of get it. ...

With my size and energy, I'm more of a gentle giant. That's what my mom and dad call me. When I was in high school and people tried to bully me, instead of fighting them back, I would just not do anything. So I got the name "gentle giant."

My teammates don't treat me any different. They treat me like I'm 5 feet; they really don't see it any differently. They treat me the same as they do everyone. ... I know I'm tall, of course, but when you're around people that make you comfortable, then it really doesn't matter. They don't see it, so you don't see it. ...

Not only being a girl but a quite masculine girl, because I have something called PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), which makes me as masculine as a boy but not as a boy, because I have the female features. A lot of girls have it, and some people are uncomfortable with it. It gives you some male features that could be seen as not so much a girl feature, but, at the same time, I find that it's so normal because nothing's ever normal. Nothing that we think is normal is normal to somebody else.

How I look at it, because I've traveled and I'm from a different place, I see it as standards are not standards, because every standard in every country or place is different.

Frierson: That's going to be my last question about your height, just because I know there's way more to you than your height.

Murrell-Ross: There is, but my height is pretty cool.

Frierson: Tell me about home. When you think of home, what comes to mind?

Murrell-Ross: I think about my mom, I think about my family, I think about the beach, I think about the food, and I think about just general comfort. I used to wake up, go to my friend's house early in the morning, open her door and just walk in. You can't do that here. I just miss the comfort of having an open community. Of course I can go to my teammates' house and knock on the door, but I kind of miss being able to walk to the beach, go to the falls, being able to eat the fruit off of the trees.

There are a lot of trees here, and that's mainly why I picked Georgia, I loved the atmosphere, but there are no trees to eat from [laughs]. I love back home. I think it's amazing that I'm getting to experience both living out of my country and living in my country, because I love Grenada. I hope I can go home and share some of the things I've learned here. It's opened my taste buds a lot.

Frierson: What is something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?

Murrell-Ross:Oil down, which is my country's national dish.

Frierson: I've never heard of that.

Murrell-Ross: Oh, my gosh, it's so good. ... It's made of breadfruit, a lot of provisions, like stuff grown from the ground; there are all different types of meat and you dry it and you smoke it. We put chicken, salted pigtails, some people put sausage, and then you put something we have called callaloo. ... The main ingredients are coconut milk and saffron, ground saffron. It's very yellow. You blend it together, it's a huge pot, and you add your dumpling. It's so good.

Because it's done in a huge pot, it's a community thing.

Frierson: I love the way your face just lit up as you were describing all of that.

Murrell-Ross: Yeah [laughs], I miss it so much.

Frierson: Can you make it?

Murrell-Ross: Yes! Being from the Caribbean, as soon as you can be mobile and steady, you're going to learn to cook something. I was 8 years old when I lit my first fire on a stove. And then I was 10 years old when I lit my first outside stove. You sit in the kitchen, by the counter, and you watch your mom and your grandma, and you watch them cook. And then they make you make something small. You keep watching and one day you've watched enough, and it's time for you to do it. And you just jump right in.

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