To get an idea of where Nicole Kuznia grew up, you only need to know that her hometown boasts a population of 2,000, doesn’t have a single stoplight and greets visitors with a 30-foot corn statue.

Olivia, Minn., is the self-proclaimed ‘Corn Capital of the World,’ and it’s where Kuznia learned to hunt, fish, run — and smile for the judges.

In her hometown, she was both a seven-time state champion in track and cross country and the “1999 Miss Junior Minnesota.”

She began her running career — which took her all the way to Northwestern — in the seventh grade.

“I was actually a big basketball player,” said the senior, now a member of NU’s cross country team. “We only had volleyball and cross country as fall sports, and I knew that I didn’t like volleyball.”

But her more unusual adventure kicked off her senior year of high school. It started innocently at a pageant held in Olivia during the ‘Corn Capital Days Festival.’ Kuznia wowed judges in five categories, ranging from poise and appearance to physical fitness.

A true competitor at heart, she bested her classmates and won the pageant, making her Olivia’s ‘Corn Princess.’

When Kuznia won the pageant, she automatically was entered into the state competition — something she wasn’t too excited about it.

“I didn’t even know they had a state competition,” she said. “I didn’t want to go. It was a week long, and we had two basketball games. They tried to make me go to all these courses to make me walk better and stuff like that. It’s just really not me.”

Kuznia insists that she’s not a very outgoing person and that she was surprised when she then won the state pageant. But it was too late. She was forced to travel to Mobile, Ala., for the national competition.

“There was no turning back,” she said. “It was just out of control. When I got (to Mobile) it became a nightmare. A lot of the girls had coaches, talent agents and other people to do their makeup.”

The national pageant was held the summer before Kuznia’s freshman year at NU. She already had signed a letter of intent to run cross country for the Wildcats and had to balance running and a month of pageant preparation in Alabama.

Kuznia, who has asthma, had trouble breathing in the intense heat and humidity of the South. She also had to battle the daily grind of practicing for the competition and making appearances around Mobile.

“A lot of that stuff just scares me,” she said. “They had us doing like eight hours a day. We went to malls and signed autographs. I grew up in a cornfield. It’s not my life’s goal to become Miss America.”

Even though she appeared to be in over her head, Kuznia managed to net first place in the interview competition. But only the top five overall contestants advanced to the finals, and Kuznia wasn’t one of them.

She didn’t walk away empty handed, though. She collected both the notoriety of being on a nationally televised beauty pageant and some scholarship money.

When it was all over, she finally could focus on her upcoming season with the Cats.

Kuznia said she enjoys running just about as much as she did the pageants. But both appeal to her sense of competition.

“I really don’t like to run,” she said. “I’m usually sitting there thinking about guys, or how I’m gonna get a job, or what I’ll have for dinner. It’s boring. There’s no other way around it.”

Bored or not, Kuznia has consistently produced for the Cats this season. She improved from the No. 4 spot on last year’s squad to almost beating NU’s top runner, Rachel Evjen, this season.

“A lot of people feel that their life isn’t complete unless they run,” Kuznia said. “I only run because I’m extremely competitive. I think someone is getting better while I’m just sitting around.”