Sylvester Johnson

Miss Austin

English Compostion

Aug 19, 2022

The Qualifiers

As we pulled up to the Missouri S&T track, the hosting place of the AAU Junior

Olympics qualifiers, I was awoken by my sister shaking me by my left shoulder. "Sylvester,

wake up; you're going to miss your event." I had slept through the two-hour drive to Rolla and an

extra one hour and thirty minute stop due to my dad's eight-year-old truck breaking down,

leaving me with little time to prepare for my upcoming race.

When I hopped out of the truck, the two-and-a-half-hour nap still had me dazed, so I had

not comprehended how close I was to missing my race. When I had heard that the qualifiers

would be held at Missouri S&T, I hadn't realized that this was the same college I had spent a

whole week at during the summer for a college tour, so when I made this recollection, I could not

help but take a minute to reminisce, until I was interrupted by the sound of my coaches voice and

realize that my mom is on the phone with him, and he doesn't sound happy. "Ay, Where's sly at?

They start rolling in ten minutes; the girls' 800m already started," hearing my irate coach rant

snapped out of my daze, and I finally got on track. Not knowing where the bathroom was, I

changed into my tight dark blue speed suit in the parking lot and just hoped no one was

watching. As I left the parking lot, I had not even made it to the entrance gate, and I could

already hear my coach yelling at me. " Wake up the pace, Sly. You can head on over to our tent

and start stretching and make sure you drink some water while you're over there; it's hot today."

At the tent coach, BJ was waiting on me since only three other people were running the

800 today, and coach had already got them stretched. Coach BJ told me to do some static

stretches for fifteen seconds each, so I started with some calve stretches and counted to fifteen;
Sylvester Johnson

Miss Austin

English Compostion

Aug 19, 2022

then, I went to my thighs, then hamstrings, then shoulders. After static stretching, I routinely

started doing dynamic stretches, these are good for getting your blood pumping before a race, but

they got cut short by coach BJ "Sly, you don't have time for that. Get your spikes on, then get

some fifty's in" so I got on the eighth lane of the track, I ran one fifty and jogged back I ran a

second fifty and jogged back and then it was time. "Fourteen and Fifteen-year-old 800-meter

runners on the track," said the announcer on the intercom, so I went up. Usually, I'm not very

nervous before I run because I have never really cared about winning; after all, I joined track to

stay in shape, not to get approval, but this time was different, my sister had joined the track and

field team as a shot putter, and the thought that my sister could get a track and field scholarship

before me made me scared to lose. Me and twelve other boys lined up on the track, two people

per lane to have as many people run, and almost immediately after we lined up, the gun fired,

and I took off. The first lap felt almost surreal because I was so focused on running that I didn't

feel anything like I went to sleep and woke up on the second lap, but when I woke up was all

downhill because everything hit me at once, my thighs were burning, my calves were throbbing,

my right knee was aching, but the absolute worst part was I realized something, I was in the first

place. Not knowing where my opponents were made me so nervous that I looked back and could

see two runners right behind me. "STOP LOOKING back, SLY YOU GOT TWO HUNDRED

METERS LEFT" yelled coach BJ. As I passed the one-hundred-meter mark, it felt like there was

no more oxygen in my body, so as I ran the final stretch, I switched my focus from controlling

my breathing to just finishing the race.

Sylvester Johnson

Miss Austin

English Compostion

Aug 19, 2022

I crossed the finish line in first place, and an electronic board next to the track displayed

my time, "Sylvester Johnson 2.02" which was my personal best, but my first thought was not to

celebrate; it was to see how my sister placed in shotput since she was really the person I was

competing against. Not even two minutes after the race, I left to see my sister throw, but when I

got there, she had already finished, and the distraught look on her face let me know it did not go

well. Sylvia got twelfth, and she was about to cry over not making it to the Junior Olympics.

This made me feel so bad that my only focus was to beat her just a few minutes ago, and later

when I was called up to the podium to get my medal, I did not feel any excitement because all I

could think about was how my sister felt.