Masai Russell, right, will be back at the NCAA Championship competing in one relay and two hurdle events. (UK Athletics Photo)
There was a time that Kentucky track star Masai Russell admits she did not like her name.
“People didn’t know how to pronounce it (Mas-eye). I wanted to be accepted and it was not easy when people could not pronounce your name,” she said. “I have never actually met anyone with my name. Someone told me they named their daughter in honor of me, though.”
Now anyone in the collegiate track world knows plenty about Russell, who is headed to the NCAA Division I Track & Field Championship Wednesday where she’ll compete in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles for the third straight time. She’s also on UK’s 4×100-meter relay team.
She was the silver medalist in the 60 hurdles at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships. In the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships, she earned silver in the 4×100-meter relay and bronze in the 100 hurdles and was fourth in the 400 hurdles. She is one of 10 track & field athletes on The Bowerman Watch List, the sport’s most prestigious individual award.
Russell set a new collegiate record in the 100-meter hurdles in April, set a new 60-meter collegiate hurdles record (7.75 seconds) in January and won gold at the SEC Championship in 7.77 to give her the top two collegiate times.
That’s why her name is well known in track circles. She says many assume she is named for the Maasai — an ethnic group in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Instead, she says her parents saw “Maasai Designs” on a door and thought that would be a pretty name for her.
“They were having a hard time figuring out what to name me and both just liked that,” the UK senior said. “The Maasai are fast people but they are also very tall, which I am not. But I do like that they are fast.”
The 400 hurdles has always been her “first love” and she still believes it is one of the hardest events in track & field because of the combination of endurance and speed it demands.
Russell’s name is also well known as a social media influencer. Russell has 192,000 followers on Instagram along with 480,000 followers on TikTok. Her YouTube channel has 29,000 subscribers. She also has her own website where she notes that she “showcases beauty of athletics through athletic apparel, make-up, hairstyles, and dancing skills, engaging fans worldwide. I am also the first female college athlete to join the NIL.”
She wants people to know who she is as both an influencer and athlete and has been able to balance both roles at Kentucky where she is an 11-time All-American. Now she’s ready to see if she can make some more noise at the NCAA Championship.
