Hannah McCormack '20 Recruiting Profile

The first time I stepped on a track and raced was in the Spring of my 8th grade year.  I won my first meet and fell in love with the competitive nature of the sport. As a Freshman I joined the Winter Track team and found early success being the only Freshman in our league to run under 8 seconds in the 55m. I was brought up to varsity to compete on the 4 x 200 team which won the league and set our new school record.  I transitioned right into Spring track and as I started to learn more about my technique my times in the 100m and 200m races improved with each event and I was given the opportunity to compete on a very talented 4 x 100 team. As the season went on I started to realize that this is something I would like to continue to pursue not only throughout high school but at the college level. I was having a very successful Freshman year that was leading toward an opportunity to be placed on a relay medley team that would be running at Nationals when I was tripped during a race and injured my knee. I have rehabbed and trained to prepare myself for the upcoming season and have worked with a private track coach to improve my starts and fine tune my technique. As a student, I work hard to maintain good grades and try to be a positive role model within the school. Although, as many young high school students do, I have made my share of poor decisions but I have learned from them, grown from them and become a much more responsible and mature person because of them. I feel that one thing that makes me different from other recruits is my toughness and my competitive nature. I have the ability to fight through pain and push myself beyond limits. On the day I was tripped and injured my knee, I somehow found the strength to run again, as I was allowed to run in another heat, which I won and qualified for the finals. I then ran in the finals and took a very close 2nd place and then ran once more in the 4x100 which our team won.  The next day, I could not walk and it was identified that I had a slight tear in my MCL and that I had dislocated my kneecap and it popped back into place. I try not to focus on the injury as I want to put it behind me but I feel it demonstrates my toughness and desire to compete at the highest level.