Athlete Name: Patrick Pigg
School: Valley High School
What was your most memorable meet and why? Jesse Owens Classic was my most memorable meet by far, it was a preview of the state course and the race is always super-fast and from the beginning of the race to the end I was in the lead pack fighting for the win and ended up finishing 6th.
Where did you face your biggest competition? I faced my biggest competition at State for cross this past year in 2018, this was the race that I had been training for all year long and I knew that I would be in the front competing for a top spot. From the start of the race to the end everybody just ran their hearts out and fought to the end. This race had so many changes in leaders and so many surprises as the race went on that I never expected to see, overall this was a race that was fast and very competitive.
Out of all of your high school accomplishments, which stands out the most and why? 2 of my biggest accomplishments came during 2018 XC State meet when I had a great state race and was All-State for the first time ever and the 2019 outdoor state finished 10thin the 3200 against a really strong group of runners.
If you could do it all over again, what would you change about your running career in high school? If I had to do anything over again it would be to train smarter instead of always harder. I learned over time that your body needs days to recover and take in the hard work that had been done in the past days so you can do it again in the next couple of days again to reach you peak.
What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome during your HS track career? 3 weeks before sectionals this year of outdoor I had a strain in my gluteus maximus, this happened a week after I had the best race of the season running 10:08 in the 3200 and was right where I needed to be during that part of the season. The injury forced me to take a 2 weeks off and from that my confidence was at a low and I was thinking the worst about the next few weeks with State coming up. About 2 weeks before the state meet it managed to go away and I ended up having one of my best races at state.
What will you miss the most? I will miss the friends that I made, there are so many people that I have met and will always be friends with from now on for the rest of my life, there were so many people from other schools that I had met and became friends with and we all supported each other in every way possible.
Do you have any advice for younger athletes? Train smarter and not always harder, have fun, always trust your training, and always have faith in yourself no matter what.
What are your post-high school or college plans? I will be attending Auburn University at Montgomery in the fall and I will be running cross country there.
Who would you like to say thank you to? I would like to say thank you to all of my friends, family, coaches, and everyone that believed in me and supported me. None of what I have accomplished now or will accomplish in the future would be possible without them. They've all pushed me to be my best and have taught me so many things about running and life.
