Nicole Painter wasn’t sure she was a Division I caliber distance runner.

When a chance to walk on at Nevada popped up, however, she figured she had nothing to lose.

Now a senior, the 2009 Mililani High graduate has accomplished something rarely seen in D-I.

Despite being a walk-on all four years, Painter has made every cross country trip since her freshman year, an achievement normally reserved for those on scholarship.

"Walk-ons usually don’t get to see a lot of the races," she said. "I can’t even express how grateful I am for choosing Nevada and to be able to get where I am. Looking back, it’s crazy."

Painter, who also competes in distance events in track and field, will compete in the women’s 6-kilometer race at the Mountain West Conference championships on Friday at UNLV.

Painter will try to beat her personal record of 23 minutes, 18 seconds she ran as a sophomore at a meet in Seattle. She finished in 23:31 in her last meet 11 days ago in Fayetteville, Ark.

"It’s a flat course in Vegas, so it’s going to be pretty fast," Painter said. "I want to beat my PR and probably get (under 23 minutes) at least."

Distance running has been a passion of Painter’s since middle school, when she first began to take it seriously. She won a trophy in a 2-mile fun run and said to herself, "You know I might be good at this."

Painter also played soccer as outside midfielder, a position that does the most running. During her junior year of high school, she gave up soccer to run full-time after winning a 1,500-meter race.

"After that, I kind of started to take it real seriously," Painter said. "I became a full-time runner my junior year, and that’s when I actually started improving a lot — when I focused on that one sport."

Nevada coach Kirk Elias took note of Painter in high school and offered her a chance to walk on at Nevada.

Although she had other opportunities, the challenge of running at a Division I school was enticing enough that she decided to enroll at UNR.

"I didn’t know if I was good enough for Division I, but my coach now, he is really into the developmental part of running and he saw my potential," Painter said. "He said I could join the team as a walk-on and I figured if I can join the team I may as well go to school there."

Painter estimates she runs between 60 and 70 miles a week and has handled the wear and tear on her body well.

Her only injury was a minor stress fracture in her shin in the spring of her freshman year, but she still managed to return and run one 10K race for the outdoor track and field team.

When practicing, Painter said, she focuses strictly on her body as she piles up mile after mile.

"I listen a lot to my body, because I put in so much work I have to make sure if I don’t feel well I take it easy or if I feel OK I can let it roll," she said. "I just make sure everything is OK so I won’t get hurt.

"It’s pretty rare for a cross country runner to only get hurt once in four years of college."

Once she graduates in the spring, she’ll focus on accomplishing another goal of hers — running in a marathon.

"I have never gotten the chance to run one because we can’t run marathons while in training," said Painter, who puts the Honolulu Marathon at the top of her list. "Every week in training we do a long run that is usually like 15 miles, so I do a half-marathon already — I think I can do a full one."