When I decided to join the cross country team my freshman year, I never envisioned myself being a part of what would become known as “the best team in Hammonton history.” At the end of my freshman season, I finished the season as one of the worst runners on the team, with no expectations placed on me for the future. Now, at the end of my senior season, I can say that I, along with my fellow varsity teammates, lead Hammonton to its first Atlantic County Championship in school history. There was no one, not even myself, that could have predicted my improvement. And while much of my improvement can be attributed to my physical growth over the years, I would have never reached this level of success if I did not change my mentality. During my first three …show more content…
I realized how much potential I had been concealing over the years, and only became more motivated me to keep improving. Prior to the first race of the season, my newly adopted work ethic had caught the eye of my coaches, and before I knew it, I had lofty expectations placed upon me. I fully intended on fulfilling those expectations, and from the first meet of the season until the last, I was able to maintain a spot in top seven, qualifying for a varsity spot in what would become known as the best team in Hammonton history. I improved my 5k time by over a minute, and achieved goals that I would have thought possible a few months prior. As a team, we won the Atlantic County Championship for the first time in our history, and qualified for the New Jersey Group Championship for only the third time in our history. When the season finally came to a close, I took the time to reflect on what I had accomplished, and took pride in the results that came from all my hard work and determination. And with this, I had first hand evidence of what I was capable of accomplishing if I put in the