Well it's finally here, my senior year. While I am excited to finish high school, at the same time it's bittersweet as my four year venture in the sports of cross country and track come to a close. So I thought I would share about the experiences that has made me the athlete that I am today.
I started running at the beginning of summer going into my freshman year. I had two older sisters who ran and my parents wanted me to do a sport that would teach me discipline and they chose cross country so I was dragged kicking and screaming into the sport. When I joined and for much of the summer I was the only freshman. Even though I slowly opened up to the team I still wasn't trying to get better. By the end of the summer my friend Max joined the team and my goal was just to be the fastest in my grade. Although he was fast I was a little quicker. Then came track and a couple of quick guys joined mainly Brenden Urban and by the end of the season he was faster than me. Then had someone to chase.
Going into sophomore cross country I wanted to close the gap to Brenden but I still didn't really want to work to hard for it so the gap between us increased. Then a good and competitive friend named Demps joined the team and we had a friendly rivalry and pushed each other. After barely missing on 18 minutes I learned that if I wanted to run faster that it wouldn't come easy. I was learning how to work harder so I could accomplish any goals I set.
By the time my junior year came running was finally in my blood and after a hard summer I was ready to go because I thought I had a shot of being top 7 on my team. The season started off strong when i ran a slight PR, but after that things started going down hill when I realized that I wasn't going to be top 7. I mentally quit and looked for excuses for why I wasn't performing like thought I could and just wanted the season to end so I could get to track.
In the second to last regular season meet, I was racing JV and I just wanted to get through the race. My coach told the team if we scored a certain amount of points all of the JV team could race at JV champs instead of just the ones who ran a certain time. I looked at all the boys who didn't think they were varsity or even JV scorers. but they still worked hard to try to make the team better.
I had a moment of realization that when I put on a Creekside uniform I wasn't running for myself, but I was running for my brothers on the team and at the end of the day I wanted to be able to tell myself that I did everything I could to make sure everyone could race at JV champs. I remembered saying a quick prayer that I would run well not for me but for my team. After the race was over I left with a solid PR and placed third in the race. Everyone was able to run at JV champs and I once again had the mentality of running for the team and taking home the team title. I ended up winning the race, but we unfortunately fell short on the team side. After another successful track season I started gearing up for my final season of XC.
This year has been different as I was elected one of the senior captains by my teammates and I quickly learned what I would need to do as a captain. I already knew that it was more than leading core, stretching and such but I didn't know what else I would need to do. I have learned that as a captain I have to be a team motivator and an example for all the new and all the young runners joining the team. I learned not only is it my job to help turn all the joggers into runners and all the runner into racers but to try to help the boys become better all around people by leading by example. I learned how hard it is to organize team days that worked for everyone so the team can become closer than ever. I learned that I would need to give running and racing tips to all the new runner when they asked about for any advice. When I'm gone I don't want my legacy to just be a time, I want to be remembered as someone who made sacrifices to help his teammates and tried make the future of his team better.
After a summer of hard work I am excited for the upcoming season, and after watching the team go from 26 or so boys my freshmen to over 50 boys now it truly gets me even more excited about the sport. During our recent 3200 meter time trial I watched boys who just joined at the start of the summer or even less than a month ago already buying into the sport and working their tail off during their race which gets me even more pumped. I see a bright future for all my teammates and my team as a whole and I hope that I can learn from my past experiences and obstacles to end my high school cross country career with a bang.
More Coverage
Well it's finally here, my senior year. While I am excited to finish high school, at the same time it's bittersweet as my four year venture in the sports of cross country and track come to a close. So I thought I would share about the experiences that has made me the athlete that I am today.
I started running at the beginning of summer going into my freshman year. I had two older sisters who ran and my parents wanted me to do a sport that would teach me discipline and they chose cross country so I was dragged kicking and screaming into the sport. When I joined and for much of the summer I was the only freshman. Even though I slowly opened up to the team I still wasn't trying to get better. By the end of the summer my friend Max joined the team and my goal was just to be the fastest in my grade. Although he was fast I was a little quicker. Then came track and a couple of quick guys joined mainly Brenden Urban and by the end of the season he was faster than me. Then had someone to chase.