By: Lily Criswell and Tracy Truong
Move over Sonic the Hedgehog. There's a new sprinting sensation in town - Amalia Stubbs, the athlete who runs so fast, she leaves the wind gasping for breath!
Amalia Stubbs, a senior at MMACHS, competes in athletics by running track. Starting in 6th grade, Amalia began to build her running career.
“I did track all through middle school and throughout high school. I’ve always done distance which is being able to run slower for longer distances. However, in 6th grade I was a sprinter, which is being able to run really fast over short distances.”
When asked why she started track, Amalia stated that it was because of the inspiration she got from her older siblings.
“I am the youngest of six kids. Four of my older siblings ran track and cross country, so naturally, I also started to run.”
As a distance runner, Amalia competes in a wide variety of races for Centennial High School.
“This last season I ran the mile, 800 meters, a 4x4 (four 400 meters), a 4x8 (four 800 meters), and I also ran 2 miles a few times.”
As with most sports, teamwork is one of the most important aspects. For Amalia, it’s the one thing she enjoys most about being on track.
“The team aspect is why I do track. I love my team – especially the distance team because we're all so close and we're all besties. I want to give a shout out to Lucy Schaefer, who has been my running buddy for the past few years.”
Amalia has benefited greatly from her involvement with track.
“Track is good physically because you’re exercising and staying fit, but it's also really good mentally. Especially with MMACHS being such a stressful school, having something like track helps me take my mind off of school and the stress. It's also really good socially because I'm able to be friends with people outside of MMACHS and expand my friendship circle,” exclaimed Amalia.
Though running harbors many benefits, there can most certainly be physical and mental challenges.
Amalia explained, “Running is definitely a challenge because you have to push your body to do things that you probably shouldn't be able to do physically. For me, it has been really mentally challenging because I get in my head a lot. You have to strategize how you race, especially with the mile. You want to go fast but you don't wanna go too fast because you have to run 4 laps so you’d burn yourself out. If you go too slow, you’ll get really mad with how you race.”
For those who are enticed by joining a speedy sport such as track, Amalia has some great advice. Even if you aren’t interested in track, this advice applies to any sport, hobby, or activity you would like to get into.
“Make sure you put your full effort into everything new that you want to try. Go do things that are fun and are outside of your comfort zone because that will push you to do hard things. That’s what running is like for me. It’s very fun and pushes me to get PR’s (personal records).”
A note from the authors:
Since this is our last student spotlight, we wanted to end off on a good note and end with one of the graduating seniors from the class of 2023. Not only do you say goodbye to this graduate, you also say goodbye to us! We want to thank you all so much for taking the time to read our student spotlight articles. We all know how important it is to have people who support us, and you guys did an awesome job at it! We have to admit, it was hard to write these articles at times and easy to write them at other times, but we can tell that these spotlight’s really do bring people joy. Lastly, here’s a special shoutout to Mr. Gaudet for reviewing these articles, posting them to the website, and sharing them on social media. Again, thank you for your support and we hope these spotlights continue being written in the future. Best of wishes to whoever takes on these roles. <3