Ellis County Sports Your source for Ellis County Sports News
By Travis M. Smith | KBEC Sports
One Life Waxahachie freshman has already begun to utilize the platform provided to her by athletics. Those efforts will soon be felt in the Caribbean — again.
Jordynn West, 14, spent her Thanksgiving break collecting 30 pairs of running shoes and track spikes to donate to youth runners in The Bahamas. She partnered with RunUnited, a specialty running shoe store located inside Field House USA in Mansfield, to pull off the fundraising effort.
This marks the second time for West to collect and donate athletic shoes to The Bahamas. She first distributed 15 pairs in February after competing in an invitation-only outdoor track meet on the Caribbean island. All of the running shoes are new or lightly used.
Though the newest collection was sent over this week, West intends to compete in the outdoor meet again in February 2021.
West is fresh off a first-year varsity campaign that ended at the 4A state cross-country meet at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock. She helped the Lady Mustang cross-country team to a 5th overall finish — the highest ever for the program — and personally placed 16th overall.
It was the first-ever cross-country season for West, who had previously only competed on the track, and she finished the two-mile state meet in a time of 12:26.68 — less than one minute back of the state champion.
In her personal blog for Youth Runner Magazine, West admitted that she did not quite know what to expect during the fall cross-country season.
“I had to go in expecting anything and everything,” stated West in her blog. “My biggest challenges were the courses and strategizing. It was a lot different than running track. Running on grass takes more energy, running up and down hills is challenging, and running in big packs.”
According to Texas MileSplit, West posted the fastest 5K time among all freshman runners when she finished in 18:55.50 in the Robert Woodhouse Invitational hosted by Waxahachie High. She also has the state’s top time in the 3,200-meter run (11:35.61). Her best time in the two-mile was 11:30.64, which places her inside the top-10 in her freshman class.
West was recently recognized for setting a school record and for being the top varsity runner during the Lady Mustangs’ team banquet.
And don’t worry, West has every intention of competing for Team USA in a future Olympic game.
But that’ll all come in due time.
West will compete for the Life Waxahachie Lady Mustangs track-and-field team in the spring — and will surely be a shining running star for the next three years before graduating in 2024. She’ll almost certainly continue utilizing the platform sports have provided to better her home and abroad, too.
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Travis M. Smith, @Travis5mith
tsmith@kbec.com
