“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.”

By: Kristen Holzherr Ryann Krais of Methacton High School is both critically and nationally acclaimed as being one of the best to have ever entered into the world of track and field. Krais is known for winning nine national high school championships in the pentathlon, 100-meter hurdles, and the 400-meter hurdles. She committed to UCLA on Valentine's Day, sporting a UCLA sweatshirt and a blue headband in support of her Bruins school colors. Although she holds many state records, and is known to many as never losing a race, Krais was not always in love with track and field. She came into Methacton HS out of Arcola Intermediate School, and was a talented and driven soccer player who never gave up a fight. Playing the position of a striker, soccer was known to be her first love until she was introduced to running. Krais always being a very determined athlete, did not take to the idea of losing well, and had to overcome this obstacle when she first started to race in the off-season. This perspective was changed when she ran 57.08 seconds in Des Moines, Iowa, the summer before she started her high school career at Methacton. Krais was not only motivated by the confidence it gave her when she won, but a dog, that her father John, has promised to buy her if she ran 57 seconds in the 400-meter dash. The more that Ryann began to race, the more she became a female athlete icon for all those who saw her set PR after PR. Not only is Ryann hoping to continue her success at UCLA next fall, but she also has dreams of making the 2012 Olympics held in London, England. Many see her as a national record holder, an extremely talented athlete, a threat to other competitors, but most see her as unstoppable. I had the pleasure of interviewing Krais, after she finished the 300-meter hurdles at the District meet in Coatesville, PA. Question & Answer Q: How do you think you've improved as an athlete over your past four years in high school? A: I think the biggest thing is not necessarily the PR's, but the consistency, just I mean if I look at some of my times, something that I'm disappointed with this year would've been like a PR in past years. Q: What does it feel like when you break a new record at a meet? A: It feels good, I guess it feels even better when it's your own record, because then it's like you can see an improvement throughout the years. Q: What is your favorite part about being able to compete versus other nationally acclaimed athletes? A: It's awesome, I mean it's very nerve-wracking, but those are the best races, you know when you get somebody that's going to push you real hard. Q: So you're attending UCLA in the fall, what are you most excited about? A: Well, I'm very excited that there's a beach 5 miles away. I'm also excited because as much as I loved being on Methacton's team, I'm excited to look forward to another team that really just wants to run. Q: What is your biggest fear? A: It's so far away from home, that's a big one. I've lived in the same house my whole life, so it's going to be a big change. Q: When you're preparing for a big race, do you have any pre-game rituals? A: I don't know that I have any rituals really. Well I guess I go to the bathroom, eat an orange sometimes, drink a little water. Q: What's the best advice you've ever received about track and field? A: I don't know that I could just pick out one thing, but I actually have a quote book, I mean I read that a lot, so I guess it comes from there. Q: What were your expectations of how you were going to perform in the meet? A: Yesterday was just to be cautious, not trip over any hurdles, because I've been known to do that in big meets, so that was a big thing for yesterday. Today was just to go out and get some PR's and I just missed both of them today, but it's okay. Q: So you recently ran 13.50 in the 100m hurdles at the Taco Bell Classic, what was going through your head after you ran this? A: Well that was a huge PR for me, and I guess the thing that I was most excited about was that I actually felt like I could be close to Jackie Coward. So many times I've run against her and I'm just like "Alright, just let her go." But I actually felt like I was competing with her, for at least half the race. Q: If you could give any advice to athletes everywhere, what would it be? A: I think the biggest thing is really you gotta love what you do, or you're not gonna do it well. (Kristen is a student at Gwyneth Mercy High School in Pennsylvania and the daughter of our Director of Development, AJ Holzherr.)

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