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As fast as she can, she pushes herself to run across the finish line. Satisfyingly she stops and catches her breath. She may not have gotten first place, but she won.
Jocee Blakely is a 9th grader here at Springville Jr, but she also runs on the Springville High school JV cross country team. She’s been running cross country since her 7th grade year. Besides that she likes running, she also said that she likes the team aspect of the sport. The team cheers the others on, no matter what. They practice Monday through Friday at the high school, and then go 8-10 miles alone on Saturday.
This year, cross country has been a little different because of the Coronavirus. The whole team, JV and varsity used to meet together for practice, but now they practice separately. They have to have their temperatures checked every day, and also have to be a little more spread out when running in a group.
With cross country every day, Jocee has limited time to do her homework. Her cross country practice doesn’t start till 3 after school, so she just walks down to the high school and does some homework until practice starts. She doesn’t usually get it all done before practice, so she tries to finish it before dinner. If she can’t get it done before then, she finishes it after. Jocee is dedicated to her sport, but also to her education. She finds time in her day to do both.
Jocee’s favorite class is sewing with Ms. Bird. She likes it because “Ms. Bird is super laid back and is a good teacher.” She also said that she likes the cool things they get to create. She is thinking about learning how to be a personal trainer or physical therapist in her future. On the side, she wants to coach track or cross country.
Jocee’s hero is her mom. She said that her mom is amazing and that she strives to be like her. Her advice to give to someone is that you should just persevere and not give up even when life gets hard. Fred Devito said, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” Jocee challenges herself every time she runs. Cross country isn’t easy but she keeps going to the end.