Young track star emerging at NHS

By Michael Kerekes (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, November 6, 2009

NATCHEZ — With several state championships under his belt, Natchez High School track and field coach Larry Wesley has seen his fair share of athletes come through the program.

So when he talks highly about an eighth grader he’s only recently begun coaching, it goes without saying that the athlete probably has a lot of potential.

Angel Brooks, 13, started running track in 2008, but Wesley said she has the potential to be one of the better runners to come through the Bulldogs’ program.

“She started with me in seventh grade,” Wesley said. “Now she’s in eighth grade, and she’s already All-District.”

On Thursday, Oct. 29, Brooks competed in the Mississippi College district meet, where she placed second — and only lost by a hair.

“The girl basically beat her at the finish line,” Wesley said. “The final stretch had an uphill climb, and she was inexperienced in handling that kind of terrain.”

Brooks said her interest in running track came after others observed her speed.

“I liked to run before I started running track,” Brooks said. “People told me I was fast and that I should try out for track.”

In just the one year Wesley has been coaching her, he said he already sees a difference in how she practices now versus when she began.

“I think she’s working harder at practice. She thinks she can do better than she did (at Mississippi College) and she’s beginning to take more of a leadership role these last two practices.”

Leadership is something Brooks takes very seriously, she said.

“It’s important because you can help others to follow you,” Brooks said. “I also get encouragement from my teammates. They’ve been accepting (of me).”

The will to win is something Brooks said Wesley is trying to instill in her. That will is going to be tested Saturday, when the team returns to Mississippi College to take part in a state track me.

“I’m looking forward to the meet,” Brooks said. “Hopefully I can come out in the top 25, but I really want to come out in the top 10. Something inside me tells me I can do it, I just have to accomplish it.”

Being a winner and being successful in every track meet she takes part in are her two main goals as a runner, Brooks said. She also said she understands the importance of schoolwork as it relates to the life of an athlete.

“Coach Wesley stresses that schoolwork is important a lot,” Brooks said. “If you really like track, you have to have good grades. He says if you have good grades and run well, there are (scholarship opportunities) there for you.”

As serious as Wesley is about doing well in school, Brooks said he also has a lighter side to him.

“He likes to joke around and he gives everyone a hard time,” Brooks said.