Honor Roll Day

Laying down in bed the night before the meet was always nerve wracking, wondering who was going to show up to the meet the next day. The drive over to the track was often long and silent. Often thinking of every outcome of each race could drive a runner insane. Finally arriving and seeing all the athletes, spectators, and the crowd. The roar of the announcer echoing through the stadium. I stepped on the track hoping to see a few familiar faces. The cold breeze blowing against my tracksuit. I began to warm up and tuned out

I straightened up and saw Adrianna bounding forward in my peripheral vision. Something about someone to catch up to makes me run better. My feet were barely touching the ground as I ran faster than I have before. Just before the finish line I ducked my head forward slightly to gain that extra millisecond. I hopped onto the mat to stop and stood still, waiting for two officials to confirm our lane and school. I was out of breath and my legs hurt but I was satisfied. I congratulated the girls on either side of me for a good race and made my way to get water. I saw Adrianna ran for 7.42 seconds, a personal best even for her. Patricia Adesanya from Lowell Catholic ran 7.70 seconds, another personal best. My name popped up in third, and I was proud of myself even before I saw the time. Along with earning my team a precious six points towards TCLs, I qualified for states with a personal best of 7.90 seconds!

Starting from November first to March twenty third, I ran every day and lifted twice a week consistently, all for the big sectionals meet, which was scheduled at the end of the season. The sectionals meet was

It was only 10 hours until I had to race and 2 hours until I was scheduled to practice before the race. I was 5’3 with a weight of 105 about to race in four events 300 meter hurdles, 4 by 1, 4 by 2 and 4 by 4 against twenty-one schools in Summit located in Oregon, every time the thought of me being in 4 different events on my mind I could feel a feeling of as though something has walked through you and left you numb shaking, breathless, and gripped by fear. All I could remember was a six foot tall man yelling at me “telling me you could do anything you put your mind into, do not let anyone tell you can not do anything you put your mind to”. His yelling was strong but his voice trembled, his lips gave in and he let out a small cry as guilt and sadness overwhelmed him. I’ve known him for 6 year he was like a brother to me he coached my brother for 4 years and coach me for 3 years. It was my only chance to make it to finals weeks and my last year for him coaching me. Knowing that it was my last year my emotionless expression swept over my face as I felt warm tears filling up my eyes, as my throat closed tight enough and each word pitched higher than the last in an effort to squeak out the words that were bottled up inside me. Finally the tears spilt over and flowed down my face like a river escaping a

In the spring of 2017, I started my third season on high school track and field. I love running track and it felt good to finally start running again. I figured this was going to be just like all my past season's, top finisher in the regular season but not good enough for the postseason. This year was much more than that. This year I made it to the postseason for the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, long jump, and 4 by 100 meter relay. It was a warm spring day without a cloud in sight. I felt very confident and ready to get top 5 in my events to move on to state.

I jogged over to my bag, and as I grabbed my spikes, I heard many of my teammates shout, “Good luck, Haley! You’ve got this!”. I nodded my head and muttered a “Thanks guys” as I quickly took off to go check in. Anxiety was already beginning to fill my stomach. I could feel the tingly sensation that some people called “butterflies” beginning to form. The feeling sunk in my stomach and remained their uncomfortably. “Alright, calm down. I still have 25 minutes till race time”, I thought to myself. Some nerves were good, but the anxiety part was just unnecessary. As I got to the check-in tent, I gave them my name, and returned to the middle of the football field where countless other hurdlers were starting to warm up. I knew who most of my competitors in my heat were going to be. To my left, I could spy a short and skinny girl with long, brown curly hair, a red uniform, and bright blue spikes who was most likely the fastest girl in the race. She was seeded 3rd in state and had been hurdling for years. However, instead of being focused on the competitors, I was focused on hitting the qualifying time that I had been aiming at the whole season. This aspect of the race brought a slight breath of fresh, soothing air to my lungs because it meant the race was in my control and was something I could dictate. I began to set up hurdles to start practicing. As I was striding over my last one, another

The nervousness building up inside me as I see my teammate racing down the final straightaway. I know that I will have to run faster than I ever had before. This was counties, this was the time to go as harder than I ever had. The thoughts going through my head put butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t let my team down, not after we had worked so hard to get where we were. My teammate comes closer to hand off the baton for my portion of the race. One last emotion ran through my mind as soon as he had handed me the baton, and that was one word. Run.

“Run, run, run!” I yelled to my teammate as we ran on our tippy toes to get to the tents. It was freezing outside, so we bundled up in jackets and blankets as soon as we sat down. I;ve been swimming most of my life, but this was one of my first year round swim meets. I had just swam a 50 free (freestyle) and only had one event lift…..the 500 meter freestyle. I was nervous and I couldn’t eat, so I went to swim on an empty stomach.

The day of my first cross-country meet started with me barely being able to get out of bed that morning. I had slept for a good eight hours, but my nerves were getting to me. I was literally too nervous to get out of bed. My mom had to come into my room several times just to get me up. Finally, after I convinced myself that I was going to be fine and that the race was going to be just like the races I ran every Monday in the fifth grade, I hopped out of bed. I put on my uniform and got in my mom’s car and she drove me to the high school so I could get on the bus.

It was February 28 , 2015. I was already on my way to Idaho championships before I knew it our team was there. At first I was incredibly terrified because of how many swimmers were there. After warm-ups with my teammates the races began, I swan my 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle, and my sprint 50-meter freestyle was close by. Usually I’m not nervous while doing this particular race but today is different. I will be racing 16 year olds while I’m only 14. Ten minutes before the race I explained to my coach that I was not feeling well but my coach looked at me and said “Maddy you are very much capable of getting first place, if you believe in yourself anything is possible.”

It was the day before cross country Sectionals, and we had the day off of school for parent teacher conferences. All I could think about was the big day I had ahead of me. Last year’s cross country season had ended unexpectedly, with an exasperating cold keeping me from doing my best at sectionals. I was expected to qualify for state, and failing to do so had hit me like a truck. I’d come back stronger this season, training as hard as I could so I’d be prepared for anything that came my way. Being stuck at home all day, nervous thoughts ran through my head over and over; honestly, I’d probably worried over every terrible outcome possible. Nothing in my life had ever seemed to stress me out as much as this race was.

With only 21 miles on my back in the past three months, the 3.1 miles race was the hardest thing I had ever done. Crossing the finish line for the first time, I realized the growth I had made through this season. Encountering my first real challenge of my teenage years, I realized the amount of hard work I had put into something I loved, and I recognized the amount of strength and perseverance I built that would help me later in my high school years and adult

As Jordan, Peyton, Savannah, and I gathered behind the blocks we began to mentally prepare ourselves for the swim ahead of us. Jordan jumped onto the block, waited for the sound to whistle, and then took off with the clock going. Right when Jordan came in Savannah was next to go, then Peyton. Peyton kicked and pulled as hard as she could. I looked up at the clock and then hopped on the block. I jumped off the block as she came in, spinning my arms as fast as they would go. Next thing I know I could see the wall, as I came in I looked up to the score board to see a time of 1.53.79. The state cut was out of our reach for now. It was only the first meet but as swim meets pass we would find ourselves repeating the same

It was better than last year, but still embarrassing that a junior was still playing JV. That year kinda made had enough of that, but for the first time ever I was dreading the track season thinking it would just be a repeat of last year. I knew had to try a little though because I knew I was a good runner, but I didn’t know how good. Turns out that I was faster than I could’ve imagined, beating the people I don’t usually beat. I added an event to my list, beating on of the 800m guys to secure a spot on the 4x800m relay. I would secure a spot I enjoyed better than the 400m dash and that was the 4x400m relay. You know how this story goes and how it will all lead up to the big day, conference. That year my team got all-conference in the 4x800, with an honorable mention(3rd place) in the 4x400. The goal had finally been accomplished, but I knew I would come back, do even better the next

My freshmen year swim season gave me an experience I’ll never forget. It was in the middle of the season, we were swimming against Sauk Centre, a team we usually had close meets with. My goal for the year was to make it to sections in the 100 fly, and I was close. I had been consistently dropping time getting closer and closer to 1:18.00. This meet was the most disappointing meet of the year for me.