What does it mean to push yourself as a high school student athlete? Carter Scholey knows first-hand after training for five months to run the race he dreamed of running – the State Cross Country Championship in Wisconsin, where he recently achieved a third place title. For Carter, from the start of the season through the last seconds of his journey to that finish line, he had to push himself. How he did that takes a lot of inner strength and a lot of outside support from his teammates, coaches, friends and family.

From his family members who awaited him at the finish line, to the students back home that gave him a huge send off from Belleville High School, Carter knew he was supported in his dream, "The send off was amazing. It was really great to see so many people in the community and know that they have my back, and even at school with the students signing the posters and the walk through the hallways, it was just a really great experience. Getting to ride in the fire truck for the first time, too, was really awesome."

Coach Houser is proud of both Scholey's accomplishments and her team, "The Wildcat Cross Country team gave it their all this season. Aside from being student-athletes, they all developed supporting roles on the team for each other. In Cross Country, perseverance, hard work and dedication are important, but so is building relationships, and those are the experiences they'll remember forever."

Carter is also deeply grateful for his coaches, "I'm super thankful for my coaches and all of the work that they did this year and it has been amazing working with Mrs. Houser and Megan this year." In this way, his accomplishments at the state meet are felt community-wide!

However, even with being supported, finding your groove to put all of your training into action takes a lot of inner strength. Getting in race mode the day of the state championship took a lot of positive mindset on Scholey's part to break through initial jitters and commit to pushing himself to do his best with every stride of the race. That meant meeting challenges as they played out minute by minute, second by second. "Going into the race, I wasn't very nervous until about 5 minutes before the race. Once we started to toe the line and look at the faces that I had heard about, I started to get nervous," Scholey acknowledges.

Scholey also had the benefit of having had the experience of competing at this level just a year ago. This allowed him to prepare a race strategy that helped him train for success. This time around he had mentally prepared to go out initially at a slower pace in an effort to conserve energy and it worked, but not without being tested, "As for the race, it was fast and painful," says Carter!

Pacing himself through the race at mile markers helped him check in mentally to adjust and continue to push forward – even as he had moments of losing focus with runners seemingly passing him. Scholey stressed, "Mile 3 was the hardest for sure. The large rolling hills on the last mile were really brutal, especially when you've already used up most of your energy. I just hung in there because it was my last race of the season and this is what I had been training for for five months and I was not about to let it go down the drain."

Beyond the training Scholey had executed during the season, the impulse to beat a fellow competitor in the last leg of the race provided this high school athlete with the final ingredient to be not just good, but great at the sport he is so passionate for – Cross Country. "During the 200 meters, I saw a person that I knew that I wanted to pass and surged past him and pushed so hard that I couldn't really feel anything in my body and left it all out on the table."

In the end, knowing you have done your utmost best at something you love, is enough to feel satisfied. Scholey knows right now in his career as a high school athlete, he has accomplished all he could have asked for this season and in so doing, has learned a lot about what success looks and feels like. His sentiments are a testament to his peers at Belleville High School looking to achieve dreams of their own.

After all, at the end of the day, we all have it in us if we just dig deep enough, find the motivation, find a good strategy, and embrace the support that is all around us to achieve our dreams.