With an amazing personal best of 18:26 as a freshman, yes you read that right- a freshman- Sophia Jantomaso became the ideal person to be Virginia's Hoka OneOne Freshman Girl Future Star. Check out how she has trained to be this good and what it is like for her to be homeschooled and unable to compete for a state title but still produce these amazing times.
Interview with Patriot Pacer's freshman star Sophia Jantomaso
Congratulations on being one of the top ranked freshman in the entire state. How does it feel to enter high school on such a high note like that?
This first high school year has been an amazing experience for me. Success brings some degree of fear with it though. Fear of an injury occurring or something happening so that I can't run well anymore. I've been learning that when I feel that pressure to remember that Jesus Christ is in control and I can trust Him with everything that happens. When I do that I'm free to let His joy fill me with strength.
Obviously you are one of the fastest runners on your team, how much of a leader are you on the team?
On the high school girls' team, two designated team captains share the responsibility of leading the team. All the girls though, try their best to set the pace in staying motivated, diligent, and encouraging. I'm not one of the team captains, but, like the other girls who aren't captains either, I still have the responsibility of keeping a positive attitude and training faithfully.
When did you join the team for training?
I can still remember waking up at 6:30 in the morning with my older siblings to go run two or three miles with the team. I was only eight yr. old then and I didn't start serious training until I was 10 or 11. Then when I was 12, Coach Jake Reed started training our team and my more professional training, including my first winter of track, began.
What has the adjustment been like from middle school 3 and 4ks to high school 5ks?
My Coach has always entered me into as many JV 5ks as possible, so the distance difference hardly affected me at all. I actually prefer the 5k distance over the 3k. Also, I trained with some of the high school girls already, so the training didn't change at all. Even more than the racing difference though, was the transfer from MS to HS, it was easy because our team really doesn't have any cliques so I was great friends with all the high school girls before I even got to high school.
You have run some very impressive races. Is there one in particular that you feel like was your best race?
I loved the Fork Union Invitational this year. My time was cut by quite a bit from the previous XC season and I felt incredibly strong the whole way through the race. When I finished I was so excited and could hardly believe that I had actually won!
Do you have a favorite course? Which one and why?
Undoubtedly, the South Foot Locker course in Charlotte,NC is my favorite course to race on. There aren't many hills and it goes mostly through woods which is my favorite terrain. I ran the 3k course last year and I'm looking forward to hopefully running the 5k course this year.
What are some of your goals for this season?
My biggest goal is to break 18 minutes for a 5k. I also would absolutely love to place top 30 in the seeded Foot Locker South race. Other than that, I want to keep training steadily and get stronger every race.
What are some of your goals for your high school career?
I would love to go to Foot Locker Nationals and be fast enough to get a great college scholarship. But even more than that, I want to use running to glorify Christ. Using the gift I've been given to honor the Giver Himself is my highest aim.
Is XC your main focus?
XC, along with track is an important part of my life, but not the main focus. I love just about any sport and life gets really busy especially in the winter when school and snow-ski season starts. I love running, but because I have a lot of other things going on in my life, it just comes alongside instead of being the central focus.
How are you and your coaches working to build long term success and to achieve those goals? Do you talk with your coaches and plan that?
At the beginning of the season, my coach had me fill out a detailed goal sheet and then talked through it with me personally. My coaches are always extremely encouraging and inspirational about reaching our goals and they do all they can to show us the best ways to achieve them.
Do you have a favorite workout?
During winter track there was a workout , called the Michigan Workout, that we were all dreading.
1200m , a 220m float, a mile tempo, a 100m float, a 800m, a 200m float, a mile tempo, a 100m float, a 400m , a 200m float, a mile tempo, a 100m float, and a mile all out. Including the warm-up and cool-down the work out was around 10.5mi.
Even though it was crazy hard, I felt amazing and it became my favorite work out.
What runner do you want to be like?
I really don't know hardly any famous runners, so I don't have a favorite role model.
