zaria bonafede '23 Recruiting Profile

Sports have always been a part of me and who I am today. Ever since I was a little girl, I was put into sports dance, cheer, gymnastics and track. I was a competitive gymnast for 8 years and gymnastics played a huge role in who I am as a person as well as who I became as an athlete today.  I stopped my 8th grade year going into my freshman year of high school. I knew I wanted to do another sport besides gymnastics. I found out about track my sophomore year and I just knew I would fall in love with this sport. With the challenges, sad days, great days and determination, track became my home. I excelled on the track and the field aspect of track. Junior year I fell in love with triple jump, it became second nature to me. As my junior season went on I knew I could go far with jumping. I made it all the way to sectionals and sadly got knocked out for state. I wanted it so bad for an individual event, to be able to go to state for. That never pushed me away from what I wanted, It made me go and want it more for my senior season. Senior season approaches and I’m ready. With all the training and preparation I’ve done over the summer to get ready for my senior season, I knew It was going to be a great year. I ended up getting a new PR and qualifying for state at sectionals in triple jump, 36-2.5 (11.02m). I also qualified for the 4x1 at state. State ended up not going as well as I wanted it to, but I never stopped wanting it and giving up on myslef because I know there is something out there for me because I have so much motivation and determination for track and field. This sport not only made me who I am but It shaped me and showed me to never give up and how strong I am as an athlete and person.