- March 2019
Personal Statement
I have enjoyed playing sports since I was young. I started playing football and lacrosse in elementary school and played through middle school on various community rec, school, and club teams. During middle school I began running cross country on our school team and really enjoyed it. It wasn’t a team sport like I was used to playing but I liked the competition not only with other runners but with myself. I liked to push myself to beat my previous times and by the time I started high school, I knew it was a sport I could excel at. The high school I attend is not very large and we do not always have the same athletic opportunities as some of the larger schools in the area. Although we have trails around the school for cross country, my high school does not even have a track to run on so until recently I have been limited to running cross country on the school team.
During my freshman cross country season, I beat my time goal for the season and worked my way up to the top 3 place on our team. I also set the school freshman record. I continued running during the winter to train for a half-marathon with my coach in the spring. I attended summer practices early in the morning and was the number 2 runner on our team my sophomore season where I set the sophomore record. The hard work that I put in over the summer before my junior season paid off and I became the top runner on our team, broke the school record on our cross country course (twice), and placed fifth in our conference at MIAA championships.
It wasn’t until the spring of my sophomore year that the school decided to start an outdoor track team. Although I had already committed to playing tennis that season, the track coach asked me to come out and run the 800/1600. I was able to work it out so I could run in the races without letting the tennis team down. I wasn’t able to make many of the track practices due to tennis but over the course of that outdoor track season I was able to compete in three 800/1600 races for my school. My 1600m PR was a 4:56 and I found I really liked the 1600m.
After my junior cross country season, I joined a winter indoor track team to work on the 1600m and this spring I will be focusing solely on track. Since we don’t have access to a track at school, most of our training is done in the parking lots around school. My hope is that the practice and races over the winter will set me up to have a strong spring season and I can really bring my time down and better learn the strategy of the races. I know most of the runners I compete against have been running these mid-distance races longer than me and often compete year round. I may be late to the game but I know how hard I am willing to work, how competitive I am and hopefully with the right program I can make a solid contribution.
Looking ahead to college, I would like to find a college that is a good fit for me and a place where I can succeed both academically and athletically. I am interested in finding a school in the south but am open to other areas of the country.
