After all the college visits are over Sarah Fakler has made a verbal commitment to the University of Virgina.
AZ#1 ranked Sarah Fakler has been one of Arizona's top ranking runners for the past few years earning several state champion titles. As a freshman, Sarah was the State Cross Country runner up and holds the All Time Arizona Freshman record for the 1600 meter run. Sarah won the XC State Championships as a sophomore and junior and will be going for her 3rd title on Saturday. She also led her team to a 2nd place spot at the Nike SW Regionals and a trip to Nationals where they placed 8th. The last 2 track seasons she became the State Champion in both the 1600 and the 3200 meter run. Sarah was also the Gatorade Cross Country runner of the year for both her sophomore and junior seasons. This fall Sarah will be heading to the University of Virginia. Please keep checking back throughout Sarah's final prep year to see what she is up to.
PR's
3 Mile - 17:02.60
5K - 17:30.90
1 Mile - 4:57.83
Sarah Fakler (profile)
(Sr., Xavier College Prep)
Journal Entry #1 (October 30, 2012)
Hello Milesplit!
This is Sarah Fakler, and as I am now a senior, I will be sharing with you a reflection on how I got started running, and then update you on how my season has been going. I know it’s rather late in the season for an introduction, but I’ve been so busy my journal has fallen farther and farther down on my to-do list.
I started running when I was in third or fourth grade, but I considered myself a sprinter. One lap on the track and I was done? Sign me up! However, when I was twelve, my coach at the time, Jocelyn Gaffney (my current teammate McKenna Gaffney’s mother) talked me into running the 3000m, the longest race for my age-group. I really didn’t think I could do it, but she told me if I ran, she would buy me a t-shirt. The t-shirt was the coveted status symbol of racing that meet, and she even promised she would get “3000m” printed on the sleeve. I couldn’t say anything but yes. Well, I ran the race, and loved it, and never looked back.
That brings me to my high school years. I attended Xavier College Preparatory because that was where my older sister, Catherine, went to school. I joined the cross country team, and had a great experience running with my sister, and making friends with amazing girls like Daylee Burr, both of whom graduated in 2011. My freshman year, Jessica Tonn was my role model, and running behind her inspired me to work hard, but the low stress of that year allowed me to run just for fun. My sophomore year was more stressful, being looked at as the top runner in the state. However, I ran well; highlights from that year for me are when I went to Nike Cross Nationals as an individual, and when I qualified for the NACAC Championships in Trinidad and Tobago. My junior year season in cross country the entire team qualified for Nike Nationals, and that is another one of my favorite memories. My junior year track season started off badly, as I ran races much slower than I had ever run; I didn’t know what was wrong, but I eventually found out I had low iron and during that period had also contracted either mono or pneumonia. The season ended on a good note, however, with individual wins in both the 3200 and the 1600, and I travelled to New Balance Nationals for a post season race, although that did not turn out as well as I had hoped.
This year, my goal has been just to try and run without regrets or hesitations. I’m trying to PR on every course I run, and am just trying to enjoy my last cross country season as a high school athlete (it goes by so fast!). Just this past week, we ran at Mt. SAC, where I placed 5th in my race: I would have liked to run faster, but I need to work on starting my finishing kick earlier (with a mile to go probably, since I’m not a sprinter, even though I used to think I was J). Next weekend, we will race at state; as a team we’re hoping to win, and I hope to break the course record, and impress a few college coaches that might be there J.
College searching is pretty stressful, but I know I want to study Environmental Engineering, so I’m looking at highly-regarded academic schools with high-quality distance programs. The list is still pretty extensive and I only have three official visits left.
Thank you all for reading! I enjoyed talking with (umm….. typing to?) you all and I will continue to keep you updated.
~Sarah
After all the college visits are over Sarah Fakler has made a verbal commitment to the University of Virgina.