East Noble students and athletes are constantly making and breaking new records, personal bests, and personal goals. On Saturday, Alexia Zawadzke, 12, became one of the athletes to break a record and set a new personal best for herself at the Northrop Invitational. Zawadzke posted an amazing 19:00.3 for the 5K, 3.1 mile, run, smashing the old East Noble record of 19:13 set by Jessica Dennison in 2008. This run also overtook her personal best time by 22 seconds, an amazing improvement.
“I felt like I was going fast, but not much faster than I normally run,” Zawadzke said. “When I heard my time, I was a little upset because my goal for the season was to break 19:00. When I heard them say ’19:00.3,’ I thought, ‘Oh, I just missed it.’ I was happy with my time, too, but my goal was to get below 19:00,” she explained.
“By the time I get to the last mile, I’m really tired and I can’t sprint very much, which is important. By working with my coach and doing some intense workouts, I am working towards having the energy to sprint the last mile and improving my time,” she discussed.
As a team, the Girls’ Cross Country team improved their time at the Northrop Invitational from their last meet by 5:49, with the help of the new additions from the younger runners. Their total time was tallied up at 1:45:58. “The whole team performed well, and after this meet, I am confident that we will be better than last year,” Zawadzke commented about the team’s overall performance. The team placed fifth out of 13 schools in the meet.
East Noble students and athletes set their goals high and strive to achieve them with hard work and determination. Alexia Zawadzke certainly displayed these traits in her efforts to exhibit the best time she can. Congratulations, Alexia!