Republic’s track and field leaderboard features a whole lot of the same name. “I took all the school records for all of the distance events in the four-by-eight, the mile, two mile and 800,” said Republic junior Gracie Troester. “I just swept those across the board and that is definitely my greatest accomplishment.”
Gracie is now turning her sights toward a new goal. “She is always committed,” said Republic Cross Country Coach Lexie Gallion. “I think that that is one of the things I admire most about her is that she is always pushing herself to do her absolute best.”
Now on the cross country course, she is totally focused on improving her 5K time. “Either this year or next year I want to hit 18s or lower,” Gracie said.
That’s 18 minutes to go 3.1 miles. A daunting task that makes even the best runners a little uneasy. “When I have competition it definitely makes me nervous and when I’m nervous it tends to make me run better,” Gracie said. “When I have that competition I definitely try to hang out with them and push myself to be better.”
Gracie sees her own accomplishments coming true, but she strives just as much to see her team succeed. “She is racing from spot to spot during those JV races to cheer on the team,” Gallion said. “She is one of the first people in the finish line helping people up that have fallen over or any of those things, so I think she just has a very caring heart.”
“It’s definitely one of my joys,” Gracie said. “Just helping the rest of the team and knowing that whatever they accomplish is an amazing accomplishment for the team as well.”
It’s all part of Gracie’s race toward more records and a push for team success – one stride at a time.
