Senior India Alix was one of the three Americans who competed in the U20 World Championship in Cali, Colombia this past summer. Alix dreams of competing at this year’s U20 Championships in Peru.

 Alix has been doing track since she was six years old and has been competing for the school’s track team since her freshman year. When Alix heard the news that she was going to be competing as one of the three Americans competing on the American team in the Long Jump at the U20 Championship, she was ecstatic.

“I was very excited. I honestly didn’t know what I had done until I got there. It was very thrilling,” India said. “It was something that I just couldn’t describe in words. That’s how excited I was.” 

During the Regional meet in Waco, Texas, Alix was in the lead for most of the meet, with her first jump being scored very well. However, with three rounds of jumps still to conquer, someone could knock her out of the top spot and earn the chance to go to the championship instead; and that’s exactly what happened. On the last round of jumps, other competitors knocked Alix out of the running leaving Alix one last opportunity to get back in the lead. And that is just what Alix did. 

She was ticked off to go to state by being one of the top three jumps on and then some girls on their very last attempt. They came in and two or three of them came and knocked India out. We were at risk of not making state ranks,” track coach Stephen Rhea said. “So I was like…so okay, well, what is India going to do now… she went and she got it she got a great jump that gave her the lead.”

Her win at Regionals qualified Alix for the U20 Championship in Cali, Colombia. Where Alix placed 11th in the long jump. Although competing in the competition itself was an experience for Alix,  her favorite part of the competition was actually meeting all the new people and making new friends. 

 “It was a new experience and especially since I was facing the language block because they don’t speak English,” Alix said. “The best part was making new friends. Now, I have a bunch of new friends all around the world that I can talk to whenever I need to or just to have a good laugh.”

Alix is a “diligent athlete” said coach Ray and with no plans of slowing down. Alix is always pushing herself and working hard. She has an incredibly bright and inspiring future ahead of her.

“I feel like I can go pretty far,” Alix said. “I feel like I can go as far as my body will. You have to push yourself to a limit. I feel like I can get really far – hopefully to the Olympics.” 

With all the achievements she’s earned and despite the adversity, she has faced, Alix has made her way to the top, but she would not be there without her biggest inspirations and the motivation to prove herself to the people who care about her and even those who doubted that she could do it

“I want to make my mother proud because I know she sees a lot of potential in me and so does my coach,” Alix said, “He loves me to death and I just want to prove to people because they’re like, I can’t do it because I know I can.” 

Alix has gone through years of training and early mornings, late evenings, and even going to train on weekends. This hard work and dedication Alix put in has paid off. 

“She put in numerous hours during the week after school practice. She goes not only on the weekends but does extra practices. So she’s put in a lot of work,” Rhea said. “So it was great to see her get the benefits now. She had a lot of success.”

With all her hard work and dedication, Alix has earned the respect of her coach and has proven to everyone that she can do anything she puts her mind to. 

 “It was kind of cool to see her, to see the adversity and see her stand up and take on that challenge and qualify for the State meet,” Rhea said. “I’m super proud of India and everything that she is receiving now.”