Raymore-Peculiar high school
1. My most memorable race moment was probably my race at Joplin my senior year for sectionals. The whole year I was struggling with an injury and I slowly started to get back into the groove as the post season began. At Joplin it was the first race I was really able to go all out in and after all was said and done I ran a PR and qualified individually for state
2. I would have to consider my own teammate Braden Zaner my biggest competitor. We both ran together in middle school and it was always back and forth on who was faster. It was that way all the way up until senior year when I got injured but even now I still consider him to be the best competition for me.
3. My personal greatest accomplishment was when I ran a 16:45 my freshman year at the sectional meet. It put me in my school's history as the fastest freshman to ever run at my high school and it may not be the most impressive feat i've accomplished, but it set a good tone for the next three years in my mind.
4. I would change how I appreciated running. It became especially clear in my final year of running that I didn't appreciate the sport as much as I should have. Honestly it's almost embarrassing how I just brushed running off as just something fun to do, but this year taught me that cross country and track are both more than just running. I feel like if I knew that back in freshman year I would've been a much better runner than I am today
5. The most difficult object I had to overcome was probably my injury I got at the beginning of senior year. It made everything in life harder let alone running. It really took a hit on my mental health and it was really hard to keep trying day after day to get healthier in preparation for bigger meets like state. As time went on I was able to make a good enough recovery to start training again and after that point it went uphill from there.
6. I'm gonna miss my teammates the most without a doubt. There was just a certain atmosphere that was around every time I practiced with them and hung out with them. It made me feel so great knowing that I have such a large group of friends that I can trust no matter what happens. I'm gonna miss them without a doubt and I wish the best of luck to them in their running careers.
7. My best advice is to keep your head up no matter what running and competing on its own is a big enough challenge to take on but adding high school into the mix presents an incredible amount of new challenges to deal with. But by staying strong and learning from your losses rather than sulking in them it can help push you farther not only as an athlete but as a person in general. There will always be a day where you feel like today just isn't my day and i don't want to try today. It's those days that you need to practice the hardest and stay at your strongest because those are the days that shape you into a winner.
8. There's a lot of love for my coaches because obviously without them these past four years would have been extremely challenging training wise and honestly they make me look at running and life in a better way. Me and the coaches may have some disagreements here and there but the simple lessons they teach me at practice are easily applicable to everyday life, without them there are just certain things I wouldn't appreciate as much as I do now.
9. I plan on running at Pittsburg state university at Pittsburg Kansas along with a couple of my teammates. I do not know specifically what my major will be but I do have big plans for my athletic college career.
10. I've said thank you enough to my friends, family , teammates and coaches so I would like to thank the competitors that I've raced against in high school. Seeing the hard work other people put in motivates me a lot and even during races just the presence of others putting everything they can into winning is a great feeling i can only get while racings others so to my competitors and opposing high schools I would like to say thank you for giving me extra reasons to try harder
11. I really do have high hopes for the future of running especially after the challenges that have been presented worldwide recently. And I truly do hope that in the years following my graduation there are some superstar athletes that rise up and take me and my fellow seniors places to usher in a new wave of running.
12. One of my favorite and funniest memories I'm ever going to have was when me and my teammates were running on a course the day before a race and it was pretty hot so we weren't in our right minds, but someone claimed to have seen a spider on somebody's back and they slapped that persons back outrageously hard and me and my fellow teammates absolutely lost it and started crying laughing. There was a giant hand mark on my teammates back for the rest of the trip.