High School Playbook Sports Central Florida - WESH2/CW18 - Spotlight Athlete: Winter Park's Shelby Hayes

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Spotlight Athlete: Winter Park's Shelby Hayes

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November 23, 2009
Winter Park

The senior ended her cross country career as a state champion.

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Spotlight Athlete: Winter Park's Shelby Hayes

Winter Park cross country runner Shelby Hayes had one goal coming into this season and that was to win states.

"It's a very gratifying experience to know that all that hard work paid off," she said.

The road to success wasn't an easy one though. Her freshman year she finished seventh in the state, her sophomore year she didn't run because of a stress fracture, and last year she had mono.

Hayes came into Saturday's 4A meet at Little Everglades Ranch as the favorite, a factor she tried not to let get to her.

"Well it's definitely tough because there is a lot of pressure coming into it but you just have to try and run your race because all you can control is your own performance," she explained.

Run the race she did, finishing in a time of 5:51.8, over five and a half seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Freedom's Bridget Blake. Although, she finished first, she wasn't quite pleased with her time.

"Well my time wasn't as fast as I would have liked but my main focus was on place for states and just running the right race to put myself in first place," she said.

Her finish combined with three of her teammates placing in the top sixteen gave Winter Park the team title as well.

"It was really cool, especially being able to win both individually and as a team because it makes it so much better to share it with the other girls," she said.

Shelby will compete this weekend in the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships south regional in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As for running at the next level she lists her top three as the University of Florida, University of Virginia, and Wake Forest.