This girl is pretty awesome.  The summer before freshman year, Avery decided to quit dance – something she had been doing for 10 years – and join the high school cross country team.  Part of her reasoning in doing this was to make friends before she actually when to high school, to help make the transition to a big high school easier.  With the help of a super fun senior girl, she participated in the early morning summer runs.  At the first meet of her freshman year, she ran that 5k fast enough that her coach came over afterwards, shook her hand and said “Welcome to Varsity.”  She’s been running varsity XC and varsity distance on the track team ever since and has shaved 6 minutes off that original 5k time. She’s put in a lot of hours and worked hard and is the second fastest distance runner on her team.  She’s had races where she really struggled and there were lots of tears.  She’s also had races – specifically the last 6 weeks of her senior year – where she set a new PR at each meet!  She impressed her coaches and even her teammates and ended her senior year with a bang!  Running has helped shape Avery into who she is today and along the way, she developed great relationships with her coaches and made those friendships with her teammates that has helped high school be an amazingly fun experience!



I first saw this pose about 10 years ago and thought it was fantastic.  After her first year or two of running varsity, creating this photo for her was something she has been looking forward to.  One of the really cool things about this photo is only a few of these are finisher medals and the 95% of the medals on her arms are medals she has earned!!  Let’s go!!!


These are medals she has earned at Region meets.



The last four years have been spent running around this track.  While it is sad to move on, great things are in store for you, Avery and you are going to do amazing things!