Senior forward Kelsey Evans’ name is found 17 times in the Elon University women’s basketball program record books. She is third all-time in Elon history with 162 career blocks, seventh in rebounds with 731 and she’s been named to the All-SoCon team in both of the last two seasons.
This season, if she can stay healthy, she will most likely surpass 2004 graduate Courtney Nyborg for the all-time record in blocks. Nyborg collected 197 over her four years at Elon.
But remember that comment about staying healthy?
Evans, an exercise sports science major, is conducting her undergraduate research on the topic of health, particularly in the field of concussions and how they affect different functions in the body.
“We’re looking at some genetic influences, memory, things like that that affect people that have had concussions,” she said. “I specifically am looking at the balance and reaction time, which both of those play a huge role in any sport.”
In some ways, Evans is carrying on research launched by former students, including former Elon athletes
“Drew Gardner, who was a soccer player here who graduated last year, worked on this as well as another guy, so I kind of worked with them to learn the ropes,” Evans said. “Now, I’m specifically looking at something different than what Drew and everyone else was looking at.”
Through a new outreach program, Evans said area high schools are now giving basic concussion tests to their athletes in partnership with Elon.
“If they have a concussion, we bring them in and see if their scores match to their baseline, and then we hand that over to the physician,” she said.
Evans said she feels the research will continue to progress past her graduation this spring.
“There is so much more that we don’t understand about concussions,” Evans said. “Even the leading experts, there’s a lot they still don’t even understand. There is so much left to investigate that I think this will be a very ongoing project.”
Oct. 11-12, Evans went to Pennsylvania State University for the Concussion in Athletics Conference. Aside from listening to leading experts in the field, she also got to present her research and receive feedback.
[box]Kelsey Evans Player Profile Position: Forward Height: 6-2 Class: Senior Hometown: Raleigh, N.C. High School: Wakefield High School[divider_flat] [/box]
“It was a great experience and I hope to go to other conferences to present this research as well,” she said. “Being able to hear the leading experts in the field right now was really inspiring.”
According to Evans, the feedback she received on the research was good, but also helped pique her interest in a new field: sports neurology.
“I got really good feedback and I got to meet a lot of really great people,” Evans said. “It was just a great opportunity to go and meet people interested in this field. Now, I’m really interested in sports neurology.”
Now, as a senior, Evans has plans for the future beyond basketball. Her research helped her flesh out the medical school route.
Her plan is to take a year off from school following graduation in the spring, but also to continue in the field of sports neurology.
“That would be really cool because this research is really interesting to me and it keeps me close to sports, which is what I really like,” Evans said. “This topic is so cutting-edge right now and it’s in the media all the time and I think there isn’t a lot known about concussions to the public, so we’re just trying to spread the knowledge.”