Sometimes, we find gold in the most unexpected places. For senior Brooklyn Huggins, who joined the track team as a junior in order to fulfill the required wellness credit, it would have been hard to imagine herself becoming an aspiring nationals qualifier able to jump four feet, 10 inches high in just one year. But, when she took her first steps onto Downes Field, her athleticism and team-oriented mindset from years of playing basketball joined in perfect harmony with her relentless pursuit of self-improvement– and a song of success began.

To Huggins, who competes in high jump, long jump, shotput and hurdles, track and field provides a balance between being a largely individual sport that still fosters a tight-knit community. By nature, Huggins said she has high expectations for herself, and she attributes her success to this quality, along with support from others.

“I’m really hard on myself. I focus on just me in a race. I get really mad at myself after every mistake. But, I have other people around me,” Huggins said.

Despite her laser focus on being the best version of herself, Huggins never loses sight of the team aspect of the sport, and said the community is her favorite part of track and field. Her teammate and close friend junior Keira Kassir said Huggins’s ability to lead by example, both through her hard work and her support for her team, is powerful.

“She’s very hard on herself and always tries to be the best she can. She’s definitely also a team player. You’ll see her on the sides cheering for everyone: when they’re racing or practic[ing],” Kassir said. “This uplifts the spirit of the team and makes it more fun and obviously more welcoming.”

Girls track and field coach Lee Eddy said Huggins’s versatility, as she competes in a very wide spread of events, is one of her greatest assets to the team. Eddy said she’s always willing to step in wherever it is helpful for the team.

“She is just a really great all-around athlete. She can flip, she can jump, and so she’s going to do a multidivisional event at Division I [State Championships]. She fills holes for us on the team and she’s not reluctant to do a lot of things,” Eddy said.

Eddy commends Huggins’s rapid ascent in the sport, despite her late entrance to the track and field team. Eddy said Huggins has great potential, and will be a key contributor to the team at the Division I State Championships.

“She’s relatively new to the sport. Had she been here for eight seasons, there’s no telling where she’d be. But, she’s in a great position right now. She’ll place and get some points for us at the Division I [State] Championships. We are glad to have had her for three seasons,” Eddy said.

Along with all of her success on the track, Kassir said it is ultimately Huggins’s care for others that sets her apart.

“She is all around just a very kind person, and everyone on the team can see that. She is a team player, even though it’s not really a team sport,” Kassir said.

Huggins, upon finding her passion in an unexpected avenue, said she hopes aspiring athletes will push themselves to try something new.

“Try it out. You don’t like it? Don’t do it,” Huggins said. “But it’s always just good to try. That’s what I did, and I really enjoyed it.”