VYPE: What are your personal goals for the year?

My goals for the year are to improve my times and become a better runner. I have just recently started running, and I really enjoy it after my body quits feeling like it’s on fire. I want to find where my limit is and push it even harder than I did during track season. While I know little to nothing about cross country or how well I will do, it would also be really neat to make it to state. 

VYPE: What is the most fun you have had in the last year?

The most fun I have had in the last year would have to be going to an Ed Sheeran concert. I liked Ed Sheeran’s music, but I wasn’t a huge fan or anything. So when my mom told my brother and me she got us tickets I was excited, but not ecstatic. However, the concert was a blast! The music was a thousand times better in person. He made a bunch of songs a lot more upbeat than they are in the recordings, and he was really fun to watch. There were fireworks and fire, etc. We spent the whole night dancing and singing. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. 

VYPE: Who is your favorite teacher from any grade, and why?

This is a really difficult question to answer. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have many amazing teachers that I am incredibly grateful for. My all-time favorite teacher would have to be Mr. Gerry, the guitar teacher from 7th and 8th grade. Mr. Gerry was always incredibly upbeat and could put a smile on everyone’s face. He made learning how to play the guitar exciting and enjoyable for everyone. Mr. Gerry also worked super hard to create some really amazing opportunities and experiences for his students to go play and learn about music. I do have to give an honorable mention to Mr. Ballenger, though. Mr. Ballenger was my Junior year ELO supervisor. Mr. Ballenger always talked to me and would encourage me to try new things like wrestling and track. Talks with Mr. Ballanger always made my school day end on a positive note.

VYPE: What is your favorite athletic memory?

My favorite athletic memory would have to be track regionals and state this last season. I ended up qualifying to go to state in both the 800 and 4×800 in my first year of track. If that wasn’t cool enough, the energy and amount of people at the state track meet made the experience incredible. However, my absolute favorite part of it all was when my teammates and I qualified in the 4×800. I ran the 3rd leg of the relay. By the time it was my turn to run, we were fairly far behind and didn’t know if we had a chance. None of the other races during the season were close to as fast as this one was being run. I got the baton and felt like I didn’t have a shot. I knew I had to give one hundred and ten percent and run faster than I had all season. Before I knew it I had caught up with the leading girls. My body had never physically hurt so bad or been so exhausted but on the last one-hundred stretch I managed to move into first place. Overall we finished with a 20-second team PR, and I ran a 2:24 split, which was my fastest time of the whole season. That split was a 10-second PR for me. 

VYPE: What teammate has left the biggest impression on you and why?

I feel like most people talk about upperclassmen who impacted them. But, honestly, the teammate who left the biggest impression on me would have to be an underclassmen. Alina Arceo is two years younger than I am. I started running for the first time during my Junior year and her Freshman year. Alina and I didn’t know each other on the first day of practice at all. We didn’t really interact much until we ran our first timed mile during practice. Alina and I finished at the exact same time. Then during the first track meet we raced in the mile together. We finished only hundredths of a second off of each other. As I mentioned before, I was brand new to running. Because Alina and I were so close together time-wise, we ran our reps at practice with each other. Alina and I seemed to have this unspoken understanding that a lot of the time we were racing each other. Having her compete against and push me definitely helped me get to where I was by the end of the season. If I didn’t have her pushing the limits of what I thought I could do, I don’t think I would have been as successful as I was. 

VYPE: What is your favorite part of being on this team?

My favorite part of being on this team is all the support and encouragement from my coaches and teammates. My junior year, I had to give up softball due to an ongoing shoulder problem that became too much to manage. I don’t enjoy being inactive, though, so I decided I would give track a shot. As I improved, Coach Peterson and Coach Bishop seemed to take notice. About halfway through the track season Bishop began asking me if I would consider cross country.  I told Coach Bishop “Absolutely not”, as I had always played volleyball. However, Bishop didn’t let that discourage him one bit. Bishop continued to ask if I would consider running cross country. He even announced at our banquet that I would be coming out for cross country. I thought he was crazy. However, I agreed to run the summer training with the cross country team for fun. There Coach Bishop and Coach Peterson continued to encourage me to come out and run because they thought I would be successful at it. I also had a few teammates who were encouraging me to join the team as well. Eventually, I caved and decided that I would run cross country for the first time as a Senior. If my coaches and teammates wouldn’t have spent the time encouraging me, I would have never even considered it. 

VYPE: You can pick any place for a summer vacation. Where do you go, and who do you take with you?

If I could go on any vacation I would go on an African safari and stay at the giraffe hotel in Kenya. I absolutely love animals and being outdoors. Giraffes are my favorite animals, so waking up to one right outside my window would be really fun. I would take my three best friends and my mom because who better to spend a vacation with than all of your favorite people? 

VYPE: If we gave you $500 and you had to spend it in the next 24 hours, what would you spend it on?

I would spend the money on Zach Bryan concert tickets. I really enjoy Zach Bryan’s music and think going to a concert would be a blast. I was super excited when I found out he was going to be in Wichita but by the time I found out the tickets were already super expensive and there weren’t many left. Therefore, I would find a different concert a while from now and get tickets.

VYPE: Do you participate in any community service projects?

I spent a summer volunteering at the Rolling Hills Zoo. I absolutely loved working with all the people and getting to learn about all the different animals. It was a lot of fun getting to teach people things they normally would never think about. Doing daytime programs with the little kids was also a blast; they were always so curious. Unfortunately, my schedule this summer didn’t line up with the times I would need to be working so I couldn’t participate again.