Coming in hot and ready is this year’s varsity cross country team, starting off with an incredible win at the Aulani invitational. However, coming in even hotter, running down the track, and ready to take Claremont High by storm is Grace Smith.
While only just starting this year as a freshman, Grace has made quite the wave at our school. Even though the year has just barely begun, Smith already has quite the track record. Last year, she achieved one of her greatest accomplishments yet, winning the Junior Olympics in the 13-14 age division. Not to mention, she has a three mile time of 17:08, and single mile time of 4:58. However, there were many more accomplishments that came before that. Starting at the young age of seven, Smith has always found cross country to be a big part of her life. Admittedly, she was forced into doing it by her big sister until she started liking it. In time, she grew to love it.
“I love cross country because I get to be on a team where I get to work hard, and be with wonderful people. The friends I make and the coaches I have are the reason I love to run. It also helps with my confidence,” Smith said. In short, she started and just never stopped. To maintain her athletic lifestyle, she commits around one and a half to two hours of practice six days a week. Starting with stretching and warm ups, she goes into runs of three to twelve miles, or workout tempos with many other elements.
Putting cross country aside for a moment, let us take a glance into the little free time of Smith. When not flying through races, she flies through the infamous homework that we all know and do not always love. However, once she is done, you can find her in the kitchen cooking and baking, ready to make her starring appearance on the Great British bake off! Or simply having fun with her adorable dog Katniss, or Kat for short.
Since school started, she has found her home on the varsity team.
“I’ve been loving it! The girls are nice and the coaches are all super awesome,” Smith said.
When Grace and the rest of her team are not busy working hard at practice, they are having fun and making playlists to shuffle through when warming up for races.
Being a student athlete takes work and time which can be hard. However, Smith believes that the best advice for a student athlete is to always be committed and always work hard. Although Grace Smith has barely begun the start to her race, the Wolfpack hopes that she will grow and make waves throughout the school.
