Lilliana Hamilton – 9th Grade

Cross Country

Most five year-olds do regular five year-old activities like throwing tantrums because their parents won’t give them the candy they want and drooling just because they can, but not our very own lady Kadet Lilliana Hamilton. At five years old, Lilliana was running for the summer track team Land Sharks. There, she was winning races and blowing the minds of her competitors and even making it to Nationals in the ‘8 and under’ categories.

Even after all these years, she has shown no signs of slowing down. Now entering her first year in high school, Lilliana is taking no prisoners and has landed a spot on the varsity cross country team. When asked who her inspiration is, she answered, without any hesitation, Katie Rainsberger. Lilliana says that Katie is her inspiration “because she is like the Michael Phelps of running and she always pushes me in practice to be better.” Lilliana also motivates herself to do the best that she can do; she always tries to go above and beyond and never settles. No matter how well she does one meet, she always needs to one-up herself during her next competition. But Lilliana doesn’t just run because she is really good at it, she runs because she truly loves the sport. She says that she loves running and cross country because in a sport like this one, you have to be very dedicated and she loves pushing herself past her limit. Lilliana also says that in a sport like cross country, “you only rely on yourself, if you don’t perform as well or better then you usually do, it’s completely on you- nobody else.”

That’s why Lilliana is constantly killing it – she is a dedicated, well-rounded athlete who also participates in soccer and basketball at a high level. This is why she does everything and anything to push past her limit and be better the she was the day before, which is hard because she’s already great.

Jalen Estep – 12th Grade

Football

Last year, Jalen Estep ended his football season early last year when he broke his collarbone. Now, Jalen is back and better than ever. With his collarbone healed, Jalen has been making waves on the football team. Every ball that is thrown his way by our quarterback Adam Brown, he catches. Not only does he complete passes, he also gains some serious yardage. It consistently motivates him to do better, not only during games, but during practice and training as well. He is also motivated by the fact that he not only wants to make himself better but wants to make the team better. In order to make himself and the team better, Jalen dedicates several hours a week just to football. He watches film of his competition, practices plays, and everything in between for three hours every day after school. You probably think “Jeez louise Jalen, you work extremely hard. How do you do it?”, and he will answer you with a simple statement: “When you are good at a sport and you enjoy it, you always find it easy to push yourself harder to be better.” And boy is Jalen better. Every drop of sweat that comes out of his pores is worth it, because when it comes to game day, he dazzles the crowd and leaves them speechless – that’s how good Jalen is. But he doesn’t just train for football every waking second of his life, he also enjoys free time like everyone else. Jalen say that his favorite things to do on his free time is “hanging out with [his] friends and just living life, doing nothing too serious.” He also includes that his two inspirations are God – because He is he one who gave [him] the ability to play football – and his brother – because he is a great football player also.

With the help of Jalen Estep, the football team is ushering a new era of Kadet Football.