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Hunter's Freshman Year, part 2
Tift County High SchoolNortheast Campus Tifton, Georgia Photos courtesy of Marci Honeycutt |
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March 28, 2009
Hunter did very well on the swim team, but he did not qualify for state and his relay team was only three seconds away! They would have been the first athletes from the Tift County swim team ever to qualify for state, so he is really hoping to make next year the one. It is now track season at Tift County High School. Hunter is running the one-mile and two-mile events (1600m and 3200m). Currently, his posted times for the two-mile rank him as the #1 freshman in Georgia with a time of 10:21, and #3 in the mile with a time of 4:52. Since those times were submitted, he has run a time of 4:43 in the mile which should make him #2 freshman in the state and he has run an official PR time of 10:08 in the two-mile. Those times were at official meets, but those teams have not submitted to GATFXC.com so the scores aren't reflected yet. The bottom line is: he is doing well in track. His goal for the year is to run the mile below 4:40 by and to run the two-mile in a sub-10:00. Pretty lofty goals for a freshman but he is very likely to achieve them. Track is harder for Hunter because he loves to run cross country and sometimes the monotony of the track is hard. But each time he races, he improves. His ultimate goals this year are to win the one-mile and two-mile and be region champ in both events, and to earn enough points for the boys team to be region champs again. That would cap off a great freshman year — three individual championships and two team championships. In addition to being a three-sport varsity athlete this year, Hunter has been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA while taking all four academic honors classes that were made available to freshmen (the freshman equivalent to AP classes). Needless to say it was a very tough year and he still has eight weeks to go. In cross country, he won the Most Valuable Runner of the Year award for the team. In swimming, he received an award for being the most likely to go to the Olympics and also earned the Coaches High Point Award for earning more points for the team than any other swimmer this year. About a month ago, we found out that Hunter and his sister, Madison, were selected to the 2009 USAT Southeast Region Youth Elite Triathlon team. Hunter made the team in 2008 and both he and his sister ranked high enough (based on finishes at Nationals and throughout last year's race season) to earn a spot on this year's team. They recently attended a training camp in Nashville, Tennessee, where Olympic coaches and two Olympians trained the team for this year's race season. It was an awesome experience for Hunter and Madison. |
 Hunter with several awards earned during his freshman year at TCHS  Hunter and Susan Williams,  |
Going in to this year's race season, Hunter is #2 in the 13-15 Male Elite division and is looking to win at nationals. Hunter will be training all summer in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia in an effort to earn that national title when he goes back to Colorado Springs in August. He will also compete with the Tifton Tidalwaves swim team this summer. It is a busy life but he loves it.
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January 2012
Robert Preston Jr. 
Micki K Photography 
