Ashlyn Willis '21 Recruiting Profile

I've always been an active person and enjoyed participating in sports, however, it wasn't until I competed in our small track club in Elementary school that I really discovered a love for running.  It was then that I realized that I might have inherited my natural ability of running from my Dad, who held the record for the 800M at his High School for many years.  

When I first started High School track and cross country as a Freshman, I experienced many injuries as a result from running incorrectly.  After that season I knew that something had to change if I wanted to be great at this sport. It was then that I started my journey to become better.  I worked really hard to change my form, eat better, train harder, and even visited specialists to strengthen and improve myself.  I kept working on my form that summer and by cross country I was not seeing very much improvement but I listened to my coach and kept working. When track season rolled around I could finally see so much improvement.  It took awhile, but I was starting to pick up my speed again, and doing it the right way this time.  I have learned a lot from this experience because I was able to see what running correctly feels like.  I also learned that great results don't happen overnight, but it's worth it to keep working hard and doing things the right way.  Although it was really difficult watching everyone around me seem to improve so much faster, I am so grateful that I was able to stick with it and now its all coming together. 

Because of my experiences this past year, I decided to become a Physical Therapist Assistant.  I believe that going through these challenges myself makes me a better athlete and a better person.  Not only have I learned the value of hard work, I can also empathize with others and the difficulties they may be going through.  Although at the time I didn't like going through these challenges, I have gained so much because of them, and it has made me the athlete that I am today.  I am so grateful that I had the experiences that I had in order to prepare me for more to come.