Caroline Rhoads
The Communicator

At 34 minutes, 29.36 seconds, Jessica Mildes shattered
the national record for the 10k, and annihilated
the school records for the 5k in Cross Country with a
time of 17 minutes six seconds, and in Track with a
time of 18 minutes 37
seconds,and according to
her coaches, still manages
to stay humble.
“You see her running
in, winning, there’s no
one else in the background.
Very next thing
you see is her running
back towards the course to cheer on her team mates,”
Head Coach Jason Cash said. “She’s not standing
around getting an interview or getting her picture
taken. Her head is in the race, and she’s right there for
her team mates, always.”
When Mildes sets her mind to something, she get’s
it done. According to Cash, last quarter Mildes decided
she was going to break the record at SCC for the
10-minute row in the weight room. “She just started
cranking away on that thing” said Cash, she “absolutely
obliterated it [the record] by like a minute or something
crazy like that.”
Later that day, at practice, he notices her hands
wrapped in gauze.
“She just totally ripped
her hands to shreds”
Cash said, holding up
his own hands to illustrate,
“and (shows) no
pain, not a complaint,
just like ‘ eh it’s okay’
and shrugs it off.”
She broke the record “after biking for probably 40
minutes,” said Sean Mclachlan, her event coach. It’s part
of the cross training routine that started after an injury
that kept her off the track for eight weeks.
According to Runner’s World magazine, cross training
has many benefits including better running, injury
prevention and rehabilitation. But according to her
coaches, it only works if athletes are completely dedicated
and give it their best effort.
“It’s 100% everything with her” said Mclachlan,
“literally everything.” Even after practice is over,
Mildes sticks around to help clean up and doesn’t
leave until there’s nothing left to do.
“My mom always told me when I was little ‘whatever
you do, do for the Glory of God,” said Mildes, as she
cools down before getting ready to do another 400
meter run.
“Whenever I’m tired…when I don’t really want
to do my best, you know, I need to do everything for
God’s glory, you know, not just do whatever I want to
do,” Mildes said.
She carries this philosophy into all areas of her life
where she works hard to maintain her GPA. She plans
to attend Gonzaga University in the fall to major in
accounting.
She’s got a big race the next day and is excited,
“but” “I’m not excited to get up early,” she said.
She will, though, and just like everything else, that
race is going to get 100%.