Every year, as the school year comes to a close, many seniors are forced to move on from the sports that they love. However, AHS senior Araya Thompson hopes to continue running track and field, her main sport, for as long as possible.

An Aspen native, Thompson has been attending ASD schools all her life. She has played basketball and run track all 4 years of high school. Now, with only 10 days left until she graduates, she reflects on everything that Aspen High School and its athletics have given her.

“I’ve definitely grown a lot,” Thompson said, “my coaches have really helped me with becoming a better athlete and a better person overall.”

Despite the challenges of balancing academics and athletics, oftentimes, many athletes feel motivated to do well in school as a result of their sport. Thompson agrees with this, saying that her sport has helped her stay on top of her school work. Apart from academics,Thompson has very fond memories from her sports, the first of which being an age old tradition, senior night.

“All of my favorite memories are probably in sports,” Thompson said, “for basketball, my senior night was really fun, just with all of my team there, and then for track, it was definitely my freshman year during the state championship meet when we all went and did a bunch of fun things.”

During her Junior and Senior years, Thompson has grown into a leader within her sports, assuming the role of captain in track her senior year.

“I hope that they remember me as a person that they can go to whenever anything’s happening, and as just a reliable, nice person,” Thompson said.

Later this year, Thompson will be attending Colorado State University and studying criminology. She hopes to continue her athletic career by trying to walk on to the Colorado State track and field team. Overall, Thompson says she is very excited for what is to come.

“I’m just really excited to make new memories and new friends within sports, and then for school, I’m just excited to learn about everything criminology.”