What made you want to join cross country? 

Fun fact, I never wanted to join cross country. I was planning on joining the volleyball team, but my sister didn’t want me to. I joined the cross country team because I was good at running. I really fell in love with the team and people and it made me want to stay on the sport.

What keeps you going when a race gets hard—what motivates you? 

(The) people and their judgment and what they have to say about me keeps me motivated, it reminds me what pushes me and what I should keep doing and why I do it.

What do you like about running? 

I like the freedom of running and how freeing it is. I like how much of it you figure it out on your own.

What was your experience at State? 

It was a crazy one. There were a lot of people that had been there multiple times and were crazy good and I was running against like the best girls in the state, so it was just crazy I had the opportunity to be there. 

How did you do at State?

I did good. I feel like my best race this season was sections. I wasn’t planning on going to State so I gave it my all at sections, so going to state was kind of a hard experience, but I still pushed through it, I still tried my best.

What is your favorite cross country memory?

There’s a lot, probably seventh grade and we were running in this kind of woodsy area. We cut through the woods into this swampy area. I was super small, so (I)  was up to my shoulders in muck.

How do you apply cross country to other aspects of your life?

I apply the way I care so much and how much effort I put into it. If I put even a third of the effort I put into track or cross country (into) my schoolwork. I’d be better because I put a lot of time into it and I care a lot about the benefits of running. I feel that if I would have done that with other things in my life, I’d be better.

What is your favorite race you’ve ever ran?

I honestly think it might be this year’s section race, because It was just a really good race this year.