Spanning The Student-Athlete Spectrum

 

“I’m actually ranked in the top 1% of all the IB (International Baccalaureate) students in our county (6,359), with a 5.0. I’ve never got a B in my life actually."

 

Even more impressive than being perfect in the classroom is that she does it all while juggling extracurricular activities and sports.

 

“It’s been very difficult the past 2 years to juggle both, but it’s definitely taught me great time management. I’m (also) in the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta (math club), Rho Kappa (history honor society), and I am a part of our mock trial team at school."

 

Oh, and there is cross country. In between 4000 word research papers, the senior is out on the course improving her times. She admits to having a rough start, but is picking it up as of late.

 

“Well, it’s been, interesting and busy are probably the best words. I had some of the best summer training I’ve ever been able to do, put in a lot of mileage for the first time, and was really excited for season. As the season came around, I had a couple of off races to begin with, which kind of messed me up mentally. As districts and regionals came up, I think I finally got back into it mentally, and with the help of God's strength, I feel like I've been doing better and better each week, and am definitely ready for states.”

 

As the state meet approaches, less than a week away at Little Everglades Ranch, Spann is remaining focused and training hard.

 

“We’ve of course been cutting back on miles and resting up, like my coach says, we’ve put in all the hard work necessary, so now we just have to mentally be there when it counts. We always have a pretty tough workout Mondays, with a mixture of repeats like 1.5 miles, mile, and 400's, and tomorrow we have a morning workout on the bridge to simulate hills we don’t have down here.”

 

So far this year, the Fort Myers senior, has a season best of 18:37, the 29th fastest time in the state. She reminds us not to be fooled by the numbers and knows the competition Saturday will be fierce.

 

“I’m fully aware my times haven’t been the fastest this season, but I know I’m capable of so much more It’s just putting it all together for once and racing my race, we'll see what happens. The two Chiles girls Lily (Williams) and Carly (Thomas) are always up there, for cross country and track. They’ve always been the ones to get in my races, but then there is the Lakewood Ranch girls that are very talented as well as so many more, like Grace VanDeGrift from Durant that I met on my UF official visit. There’s so much competition out there in 3A, I’m just excited to see what happens Saturday.”

 

Following the season, she hopes to compete in Foot Locker South then transition to the track where she hopes to run sub 11 minutes for the two mile and improve on her third place finish from last year, as well as, her team’s runner-up finish in the 4x8.

 

As her high school running comes to an end and the school year winds down, college will come calling.  Does an official visit to Gainesville leave a commitment to the Gators in her future?

 

“I’ll probably be deciding pretty soon as I know I’ll just feel so much more relieved after making the decision. UF is definitely my number one right now, even though I am keeping my options open.  I just absolutely loved how the school has great academics, as well as athletics. Like I said before the team and coach are amazing and just made me feel at home right when I got there.”

 

 

Three things people don’t know about you: “Well my good friends definitely know this but I have a weird obsession with anything pumpkin; pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie blizzards at DQ, pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. My mom even bought our own pumpkin coffee for me every morning. Aside from that, I also love to slalom water ski in our neighborhood lake whenever I get the time to with my mom, I think it’s so much fun. Also, I couldn’t speak till I was three. I had to go to speech therapy.”

 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years: “I see myself graduated from college and having gone through law school, and hopefully have found a great guy to start a family with.”

 

If you could go anywhere in the world: “I’d probably go make a long trip and travel all around Europe, I’ve always wanted to go see all the amazing places, probably Venice or Paris, but definitely would have to go with a great guy to make it worthwhile as there known to be some of the best romantic places!”

 

Craziest cross country memory: “Cross country camp up in GA before my junior year. The first day we were supposed to do an eight mile run, but turned into over an hour and a half after losing sight of the guys, and turning the wrong way up the mountain. Basically, we ended up at this random house and as we walked up the driveway we saw a bunch of gun shells, but still went to the door and then this huge tatted up guy answered and we just all started freaking out to say the least, we ran down as fast as we could, and finally after a couple wrong turns we found our way back.”

 

Hidden talents: “I really love to cook. All my friends always make me make them food because they can’t even make like macaroni and cheese. I must admit, I started a fire in my oven making a homemade pizza it was a failure to say the least.  I love making any kind of desserts, but they have to be pretty ones, it has to look good in the cook book or I don’t make it.”

 

Final Thoughts: “I just want to thank God for everything I’ve been blessed with, great family, the most amazing friends, and I give him credit for all my talent athletically and academically as well as all my successes I’ve experienced so far. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13 has definitely been a great verse that has helped me to do what I have so far, and gives me strength and hope for the future.”