Raihana Yameogo '22 Recruiting Profile

Hi! My name is Raihana Yameogo and I'm from Burkina Faso, which is located in West Africa. Moving from a whole different continent to another, language was my first challenge but not my last. I had to adapt to a new way of living, learn a different culture, while being able to be myself. That's when running came into play. Back in Africa, we didn't have competitive sport teams at our schools, but I would always race my classmates and friends and I always tagged along with my dad to his workouts. I always enjoyed the concept of competing, but was yet to be exposed to organized competitive teams. Sports teams were new to me when I got to 7th grade and there were all these sports available, which is when I decided to run cross country. After the XC season, I tried out for basketball and made the team. I was one of the worst players but I do not regret ever being in the team because of the many lessons I have learned from it. I'm glad I took the risk and failed. Moving forward, 8th grade cross country didn't go as I wanted and I wish I had put in more effort. I'm glad I can learn from my experiences because going into my freshman year, I was more determined than ever. I decided if I'm going to play this sport, I want to be good at it and put in the effort. That's when it clicked to me that with practice and determination, I really could go far. 

Deciding to do cross country is one of the best choices I have ever made. The sport introduced me to a positive community and many of the amazing friends I have today. The team made me feel as if I fit in despite the fact that I'm from another continent. It gave me so much confidence and taught me many lessons. The struggles that came with this sport increased my mental strength. I am an uprising junior, and although I had an awesome freshman cross country season, I struggled with an injury that cost me most of my freshman track season. I fought past the injury and had an amazing sophomore year. I learned that nothing is exactly as you expect, so adapting and perseverance will reward you.

I love all distances from the 100 to the 5k and the plan for my track season was to experiment with the different distances. Despite losing my track season, I am optimistic on how much I can achieve. And I will continue to apply the lessons I learn from running to my everyday life.