Girls Cross Country - Connecticut

“Watching her race is both amazing and intimidating.Hannah is extremely focused and dedicated in everything she does. I have yet to see her "take it easy" in a race, despite the fact that she won, and broke the course record, at every race this year up through the Footlocker Regional meet. Watching her race is both amazing and intimidating. It is clear from the look on her face that nothing is going to come between her and her goals. At the same time, though, she is reasonable, level-headed and resilient.  After Footlocker Northeast, the first race she'd lost since Outdoor Nationals in 2013, she staggered around the finish line, asked for her warm ups, and smiled. Local reporters covering the event wanted to make the story about how Hannah kicked too soon, how her undefeated season came to an end, but Hannah was insistent: she was proud of herself because she'd tried as hard as she could. She could hardly see, she had nothing left in her legs, it was freezing cold, and she'd just lost her first race in nearly six months. But she understood that months of hard training, weeks of mileage, stretching, lifting and form drills had gone into the race and that leaving it all out on the course was all she could ask of herself. Hannah is the same way in school. She's a top student in her class, enrolled in a math class two years beyond her grade level, in four AP classes, and doing well in each one. Whenever a teacher stops me in the hallway to ask about her race, the conversation ends with the teacher and I agreeing, "she's a great kid," and the teacher saying, "she's one of the best students I have," or sometimes, even, "she's one of the best students I've ever had." For all her hard work, determination, and grit, Hannah is humble. She hasn't yet worn her Footlocker gear, her All-American t-shirt, or any of the gear she got at the Nike Elite camp to practice because she thinks it might look like she's bragging. The head indoor track coach and I talked about giving her the opportunity to sit out up until our divisional meet ”