viviana ruiz '11 Recruiting Profile

Who would have thought that a girl nobody knew up until ninth grade would be looked up to. Going into high school I wanted to stay in my cocoon away from everyone, thatâ??s until I decided to run cross country. I did not prepare myself for all the hard work behind just running, I almost quit, but I hung in there and ended up being the fastest freshmen ever at Wickenburg High School. Sophomore year I was determined to do better and impress my coach my hard work and determination helped me through the never ending season I ran better than I had ever ran before and once again I was the fastest sophomore at Wickenburg High School. As a junior I could give you a million excuses for my bad performances but in the end they will still be excuses. I was so caught up with thinking that I didnâ??t need practice and thinking that nobody could beat me that I didnâ??t try at practices. We had a meet at Estrella High School where the regional meet was destined to be a week later. I never seemed to understand that a race isnâ??t won from the start in cross country so I took off like crazy, but after a while I couldnâ??t find my pace I was running slower than usual I was passed by Sophia Zeno from Sedona she ended up winning the race leaving me in the dust honestly. I was upset that I had made such a big mistake towards the end of the season. I later found out that she had been disqualified for not going through a cone which really made no difference she would have still won. I ended up getting the first place medal even though I didnâ??t deserve it. I gave the medal to her and told her that she deserved it and I shouldnâ??t have gotten it. I trained so hard the next week to be regional champion and prove to myself that even though I may have a bad day I can get up and accomplish what I set my mind to. Regionalâ??s came and I knew it was going to be a long and hard race since Sedona was back. I was so scared since Sophia was in the lead for almost the whole race but it came down to the last mile when I passed her and took the lead. I won regionals and was extremely happy. The Sedona coach was extremely proud of me and wrote me a thank you letter for giving my medal away to his athlete and thatâ??s when I knew I had done the right thing.