On Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, Harry S Truman senior Lanae Carrington was recognized for signing to continue her track career at Lehigh University. (Photos provided courtesy of Harry S Truman)
Lanae Carrington – Lehigh University (Track)
Major: Biology
Final list of colleges: Lehigh, Bucknell, Maryland Eastern Shore
Reasons for choosing Lehigh: “When I first stepped on campus, I was like – I feel like I can see myself being here four years. Just meeting the coaching staff, they were all so nice and welcoming.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in track at the collegiate level? “Honestly, I did not even think about doing track collegiately until high school. That’s when I started taking it seriously. I started track when I was eight years, and it was a fun type thing. Once I got to high school, for some reason, the end my sophomore year outdoor it just clicked, and I was like, ‘Wait, I could actually do this. I could see myself running in college.’ I remember me and my AAU coach talked over the summer, and he said, ‘If you want to do this, you’ve got to lock in.’ All my coaches were telling me my junior year I had to lock in. I’m like, ‘I got you,’ and here I am.
“My junior year is when the recruiting started because that’s when they all like to say – I started to lock in.”
Coach Micah Wright says: “Lanae is able to keep the main thing the main thing, meaning she’s able to prioritize. So, when it’s time for school, she’s able to keep her books in order. When it’s time to perform and it’s time to engage on the track, she’s able to focus and lock into what’s asked of her in a track meet. That ability to compartmentalize is going to serve her well as she moves forward because she still will be a student-athlete at an institution like Lehigh where they do academics and athletics in the Patriot League at a really high level, so she’s going to have to be able to do that there as well.
“For our sport – running sports, this is something they do all the time. They don’t have off-seasons. While they might not be competing, they’re still doing something to better themselves and to improve as an athlete, so it’s something they do all the time. What makes this even sweeter is that during the 2021 school year when this group was in ninth grade – it was some sort of abbreviated season we had because of COVID, and we had the fall sports played in the spring that year, so our numbers were really low. We had three student-athletes from this class when they were freshmen – just three, and Lanae was one of them. It was a very small group, and she made it to the SOL meet as a freshman. There were two girls, and they’re still on the team – Lanae and Jada (Peterson). I remember them as ninth graders, so the sacrifice it took, the unpopular decision that was made as a ninth grader with COVID and all the things that were happening – it’s rewarding to see them on this level and getting such an accolade.”
About Lanae:
Favorite food: Pasta/Chicken Alfredo
Favorite TV: Law and Order SVU
Favorite music: Rap/J-Cool
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