Hey Flrunners! What an exciting last two weeks it has been. I can’t believe we have already finished districts and regionals and that the state meet is in just a couple of days. Districts and regionals are always a mix of emotions for me. For those of us that were fortunate to move on you have a sense of relief and excitement. Then you see the pain of others who weren’t as fortunate to have attained one of their end goals. Congrats to all the individuals and teams that made it to state. It is a true accomplishment and something everyone should be proud of. For those of you whose season may have ended sooner than you would have liked; remember that it’s the little goals you set and achieve for yourself each week that make you successful and to always take the opportunity to learn from each experience, positive or negative, and build on them for the future.
Last week was a hectic one for me. I attended my last official visit leaving Orlando on Sunday and departing campus on Tuesday morning at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight in order to make it back to Orlando for my afternoon and evening classes. On Wednesday, I had a very strong cruise interval workout and hit all the marks I was supposed to. Thursday morning I was up bright and early to get in a solid workout before heading off to classes and then departing for Gainesville to arrive in time to get in a light jog on the course. Friday morning was our regional meet. The Hagerty team did outstanding as they have been all season long. We were able to finish second in our regionn behind a very strong Olympia team.
With the regional meet behind me and our team safely securing a spot at state, I had one more personal task to complete while in Gainesville….meeting with Coach Spangler and personally telling him that I was ready to verbally commit to The University of Florida, and how excited I was to be a future Gator!
After having been on visits to Ole Miss, William and Mary, Iowa State and the University of Florida I felt I was ready to make a commitment as to where I wanted to spend the next four years of my academic and athletic career. The decision did not come easy. I had a great time on all of my visits and met an amazing group of girls and coaches at every school. I would like to thank all the coaches who provided me the opportunity to visit their school and see everything they had to offer in terms of athletics and academics. Every School I visited was outstanding and had the key components to what I wanted for myself over the next four years.
Florida however seemed to have the whole package for me: a strong academic program, incredible training facilities, a great team that I felt very at home with and can’t wait to train with, and an excellent coaching staff with training philosophies that are very much in line with what I was looking for. Funny side note is that I actually met Coach Spangler through a mutual friend back when he was coaching at VMI. I remember saying what a great person and coach he was and how much I hoped I found a coach like him when it came time to look at colleges! I am excited to take on the rigorous academic challenges that UF will provide me along with seeing what new levels I am able to achieve as a collegiate athlete.
Best of luck to everyone at the state meet and good luck to my future team at Nationals this weekend!
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