Staying Balanced With Caroline McLeskey

Caroline is only a sophomore but has been in the mix of several of the most competitive meets in the Arizona. She holds PRs of 5:10.20 for 1600m and 11:15.61 for 3200m and placed 8th among D1 girls for both events at the track and field State Meet. She opened her season with a win at Red Mountain's King of the Mountain and then placed 2nd at Desert Solstice, behind Haley Wolf and Samantha Schadler. She placed 7th in the Sweepstakes race at Desert Twilight and is currently ranked 7th in Arizona going into the State Championships in just eight days.

I was born in Colorado but have grown up in Gilbert. I started running around my 7th grade year but nothing too competitive until high school.

800 repeats is one of my favorites, although Oregon drill on hills is definitely up there!

Before a race, I love to have blackberries, pretzels, and mango Naked Juice.

It has given me confidence that I can keep pushing myself and progressing.

Well our boys team would call him old (and that isn't wrong) but Coach also has a great perspective. He is always giving us handouts with not only great advice for running but life as well. His quotes on being mentally and emotionally balanced have helped me stay strong in races and other challenges in life. I'm so grateful that he is my coach and that he really helps our team come closer together.

Our Coach Michelle Rescendez usually has some pretty challenging core and isometric exercises for our team to do. Her workouts have helped me tremendously with form, speedwork, and preventing injuries.

Our team has focused a lot on pushing each other to our fullest potential as well as building each other up along the way. We have definitely put in the work and want to run for each other at state.

I would love to run with Mary Cain. She was one of my role models when I first started running.

I play the clarinet in band, and that combined with running takes up most of my time.

I have been considering running Nike Cross Southwest Regionals!