Jack LaSalla '20 Recruiting Profile

As an athlete, the uniqueness that sets me apart from others in running is that I make myself believe that I can do anything.  To achieve the highest goals, I must be mentally prepared, but also make sure that I am not physically injured.  Even if I don't reach my daily goal, I still strive for a better result next time.  I used to be a mediocre runner in my freshman year.  I then realized, with hard work, that I could do much better with my running ability.  I believe in my Grandfather, the one person who I know looks after me like an Angel from above.  Although I never physically met him, I heard stories from my Mother and listened to tapes that he made about his life growing up during the Depression Era.  He is a role model to me.  Every race I run I think about my Grandfather, growing up with nothing, and about his journey, never giving up on his dreams.  He has given me the motivation to do very well in my races, and ultimately has led to me becoming one of the best runners on my team!  Besides following the lead of my coaches and doing what is expected of me, I also lead by example to help others on the team push themselves to be successful.  On my days off, I put in the extra effort by doing time-trial workouts to help improve my time and form.  As proud as I am with my current achievements, I am still motivated and driven to work harder to reach my full potential as an athlete.

The way I make my teammates better is to root them on.  I always give them the encouragement and last minute boost to help them succeed.  I am a mentor to all the underclassmen and newcomers to the team.  I help them adapt to the everyday rigor of training.  For example, when some of the upperclassmen went a different route, I noticed the underclassmen became confused as to which direction to go.  I stepped in and lead the underclassman on the running path back to the school to complete the course.  My teammates recently told the coach that, they want to vote for me to become Captain during for my senior year.  What a great honor!

I am honoring the game by working on completing a self-created project of collecting pictures of each runner at their finest moment.  I will then put together a picture board to display at school and put in the town newspaper to showcase each runner's talent.  When the athlete sees their picture, I hope it puts a smile on their face that their accomplishment is recognized.  This year, I ran a 5K race for different illnesses including Leukemia and other cancers.  I ran the race in memory of both my late Grandparents.  I came in first place overall with a time of 18:17 out of 438 participants, with the runner up coming in forty seconds behind me.  I was so proud of that moment, to honor so many people and causes.

This past summer, I attended Foundation Running Camp.  That week, Nike sponsored seminars and opportunities to win prizes.  In addition to going on daily, rigorous morning runs the camp had a competition where, if you completed a passport book which contained several tasks, you could win several Nike-sponsored prizes, including a helicopter ride around Albany.  Although it was not easy, I took this as an opportunity to put hard work into completing each task during the week.  Two examples of events that I completed were camp Olympics and the camp talent show, which allowed me to show off my theatre arts talents that I learned in school.  Another example of leadership during this camp was when Nike held a seminar and asked for volunteers to make a 45 second act promoting Nike sneakers.  Knowing the rules of improvisation, I volunteered, promoted the sneakers and won the pair of sneakers.  Finally, Friday arrived and awards were announced.  I was so nervous before they called out the winner.  When they called out, “The second place winner is JACK LASALLA!” I was so excited that I got up, ran to the podium, and won another pair of shoes that were unreleased in 2014, along with other prizes.  I also took the helicopter ride around New York’s Capital, which was one of the best experiences of my life!  I felt like a bird soaring through the air.  I would have to say that this camp was one of the best summers I ever had!