SSN: Jack Patrick Athlete Feature

Minor Setback Leads to Major Comeback

 

As junior Jack Patrick glances down the first straightway of the cross country course that he is about to run on, he realizes that it look a lot for him to get there.

When Patrick started high school cross country, running was not exactly his thing yet. Over time, he improved and eventually grew to love the sport enough that he decided he wanted to take his skills to the next level. After a great summer of hard work going into junior year, Patrick faced a major set back after getting sick on a mission trip.’.

“It ended up putting me out for about 2 weeks during the summer upwards to a month,” Patrick said. “I wasn’t able to train at all.”

Despite being out from running, Patrick kept a strong mentality and decided to put in a lot of work on the bike to stay in shape. After he was cleared to run, Patrick got right back to work with his running.

“I just talked with the coaches and got a plan to start working harder and just running more mileage to in order to get my stamina back up,” Patrick said.

The plan worked well, as Patrick was able to work his way back into the varsity lineup and help his team get to the state meet.

Despite the challenges he went through, Patrick’s teammates knew that he would handle it well.

Senior Eric Swinson, Patrick’s teammate said, “He’s really strong and has that good mentality and you can always count on him to come back in the end.”

Patrick’s mentality not only propelled him past his sickness, it made him into the talented runner that he is today. Patrick’s come up throughout high school has been crucial to his team’s success.

“He’s improved his times a lot and he’s also gotten a lot stronger throughout the years,” Swinson said.

Not many athletes can handle something like a serious sickness, but Patrick has done a great job of it. His strong work ethic and good attitude was crucial in his come back from sickness.  Story by AJ Brisben