Graysen Arnold '21 Recruiting Profile

Hello! My name is Graysen Arnold, I am a Senior at Heritage High School in Lynchburg, Virginia. I am very fortunate to be part of the 2019 State Outdoor Girls’ Track Team and 2020 states Girls’ Indoor Track. By God's grace, I was able to place second in Shot put. 

In 6th grade, I dealt with a lot of mental and physical obstacles after having double foot reconstruction surgery. I was a very active child; however, after I had the procedures I was unable to participate in sports and physical activities for almost a year. I lost muscle mass and agility that I once had and I became extremely frustrated with myself. In my 8th eighth grade year,  I moved and changed school districts. I was “recruited”, for my middle school’s track team by the principal. I quickly fell in love with shot put. My self-esteem and self-motivation grew rapidly. Moving to high school, I was lucky to be surrounded by amazing and welcoming teammates. They were willing to help me with the technique for shotput and introduce me to discus. My teammates and a great coach increased my love for throwing.  Sophmore season I focused on strength and conditioning and techniques throughout the indoor track and outdoor track seasons. Indoor I fell short and was not able to qualify for state by a few inches I used this minor set back to motivate me for the outdoor track season. During, the outdoor track season, I was able to qualify for State in Shotput and Discus. Coming into the State meet, I was ranked 12th, I was able to PR and place fifth.  I surprised everyone with placing. This propelled me to continue to get stronger, practice technique, and control my mental state of mind. I set my goal to win at the state competition.

Going into my junior year, I have continued to work hard and increased my PR by 3 feet.  I have several goals for this year. I would like to qualify for nationals and reach 40 feet by the end of my outdoor season this year. My goal is to throw 130 ft or more in the discus this year. By the end of my high school career, I want to end my high school career with a PR of 43 ft for shotput and 150 for discus.  When I get to college, I would like to end my freshman year throwing 49 feet for shotput and 180 for discus. Throughout the next couple of years, I want to improve my technique and competitive mental state along with the distances described. 

I look forward to going to college so I can continue my academic career and achieve my goal of becoming a professional athletic trainer. I love sports, traveling, and helping others and athletic training combines all three. I really grew to love athletic training once I got into high school through my experiences of being in the training room and the work it took to overcome the setback of my surgeries early on.  My dream is to become an athletic trainer in the NFL or NBA. I am super excited about the future and where it may take me!

edit: Corona threw everyone for a loop!  After placing second in the Indoor Virginia 3a Track meet in February, I like many other, was met with sadness. Our outdoor season was canceled. As upset as I have been blessed to be able to practice just about every day. I am looking forward to the upcoming season in the winter. I know I have the potential to be a great recruit and I will continue to strive for perfecting my craft.