With the cross-country season coming to an end, a student athlete demonstrated great passion and courage for the sport.
Jesus Flores (12) has participated in cross-country for the last two years. Flores likes the sport because he enjoys running outdoors with the nice view, calm atmosphere, and friendly environment.
“The sport is a nice way to keep myself entertained after school, having the best view, feeling the fresh wind, as you’re pushing yourself to victory, what isn’t there to love?” he said.
Flores didn’t start the season as one of the fastest, with a slow time of 34 minutes, but in under two weeks, he was able to drop that time to1 a solid 26 minutes.
“Yeah I wasn’t the fastest in the whole team, I probably won’t ever be, but the motivation from my friends pushed me to improve my time and grow more, which clearly I see the progress,” he said.
One of his favorite moments of the season is to finish a meet and get dinner. “Oh man, I love how we stop after our meet and go eat food, especially if it’s In-n-Out, because I just adore those animal fries,” Flores said.
Being a student athlete is very difficult because you’re balancing your school life, and personal activities. Flores tries to handle being a student athlete by focusing on his time management skills. On the days the team has an away game, he works on his school assignments while on the bus, therefore he doesn’t fall behind on work.
“Honestly it’s hard, it feels like juggling apples, one small slip and you have to drop everything, but I’ll always have the opportunity to try again,” he stated.
Now that the season is over, with the 21st place in the final race for Frogtown. He’s now ready to rest during the winter, so his bones are ready for the Track & Field season this upcoming February.
“I want to improve my speed and distance, but I also want to be a better student, devote more time to my studies, and be a better person overall,” he said.
His goals for the upcoming season is to improve himself with not just the sport, but with life overall.
