Annalyn Justice '23 Recruiting Profile

In the fall of 4th grade, I joined my Township Recreation Cross Country team which was led by a somewhat locally famous woman known for her Boston qualifying marathon times, Faith Nashel. More than one hundred kids showed up for the first practice and, even with considerable youth coaching and running experience it was a bit much for Coach Faith. It was extremely frustrating for Coach Faith when the kids goofed off or ignored her, but she stuck with it and so did I. I was not the fastest kid on the team, but I was probably the most consistent and I was always called out for my good form and winning the plank contest. 

My freshman year of high school, I made the JV team (as opposed to the Freshman Team) and was a leader on the team with decent but not the fastest times. Throughout that season a few of my teammates were consistently earning new PRs and moving up to Varsity. I did not understand why I was the only one that had not PR'd, as again, I was consistent and always worked hard in practice. Then, the last week before our last race of the season, my coach old me that if I wanted to run post season with Varsity, I was going to have yo push myself, and he laid out a goal time that I thought was impossible.

All that week, I trained with drive and determination like never before. On the day of the race, as I lined up at the start, I was confident that I was ready. As the gun went off, it was as if something snapped in my head, and I let up to the pack of leaders... and stayed there the entire race. I finished 6th place in the County JV race, and ran 23 seconds faster than what had once seemed like an impossible goal.

On that day, I proved to myself that hard work does equal success, and I began to believe in my own force as a runner. This year, as a sophomore, not only did I make the 10 person Varsity team, but I also moved up 10 spots on the team. I am looking forward to the next two years of hard wrk, well-earned progress, and hopefully to a continued running career in college.