By Stephany Bravo
Staff Writer
There are many sacrifices made as a student athlete; consistency and progression have to stay with each individual player to benefit the team as a whole. Junior distance runner Jorey Braughton is one of the many student athletes here on campus that continues to show astounding sportsmanship. With planning a wedding, maintaining a 3.25 G.P.A to graduate with honors and remaining persistent with her training as a student athlete while dealing with asthma, Braughton makes it all look equitably easy.
“I stress out and everything would be so easy if I wasn’t running but it’s worth it, my teammates are all going to be my friends for the rest of my life, most of those girls I met in college and half of them are my bridesmaids, it’s definitely worth the friendships that I gained from being an athlete.”
Now that CSUB is in the Western Athletic Conference it is more competitive for athletes to earn their spots in conference because they are competing with more skilled players. “I would have easily had my spot for conference by breaking five (minutes) in the 1,500 if we were still in the Great West Conference, but now that we are in a harder and better (conference), it gets tougher,” said Braughton. Players who would have easily made it into conference while in the Great West must put forth more effort to receive their spot in the WAC conference.
Sports are not easily incorporated into a class schedule. Student athletes are required to be full time scholars in order to qualify for any sport. Although they themselves forget they lead regular lives, they have objectives to meet in each course. Most players hold up to two part time jobs, and if that wasn’t enough most student athletes have scholarship accountabilities and cannot afford to fall behind in schoolwork. They must excel both in their athletic events and in class.
“The difficulty about being a student athlete is that when it comes down to crunch time at stressful points in the quarter, you are battling mental and physical fatigue. We are also regular students with all the normal deadlines and responsibilities as regular students. Some of us have multiple part time jobs so the time commitment and physical fatigue experience on a daily basis is the real crux of being a student athlete,” said junior distance runner Rudy Castro.
Success does not always come easy, and that is something an athlete faces every day as both a player and student.
“Jorey is my best friend and I have seen her break down and cry to finish sets. I have seen her have an asthma attack during episodes and still push through workouts. I remind them how tough they are and also remind them that the work out is supposed to be hard,” said Castro.
Although the responsibility is strenuous, there is much recompense that comes from being a student athlete. “Last year I didn’t have too many big highlights (as an athlete) but this year I made my first goal of breaking five (minutes) in the 1,500, and then I made my second one by going to conference. Now I just want to get that third goal of getting on the top-20 list,” said Braughton.
She has now received her second WAC Academics All-Conference award for indoor and outdoor track and honor roll for XC.
Not only do players exceed to perform well academically but the bonds they create as a team is worth the hard-hitting times they face during their involvement in sports. “They are like my family, they are awesome, they are always cheering me on, and we’re all supporting each other and have become closer,” said Braughton.
“They definitely are the hardest working group of individuals I have ever met. They don’t make excuses and sometimes against all odds, pull out some amazing successes. They are also very funny even in the most serious of situations. We are a unique bunch but I guarantee that no one is as sincere as us when we work together to put our best foot forward,” mentioned Castro.
