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Jan 19

The 2020 Girls and Women in Sports and Fitness Youth Athletes of the Year – Lincoln Journal Star

Fitness Comments Off on The 2020 Girls and Women in Sports and Fitness Youth Athletes of the Year – Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Northeast's Hannah Ray finishes firstduring the A-4 district girls cross country racein October 2019 at Pioneers Park.

Gymnastics wasnt a good fit for Hannah Ray, and her 5-foot, 2-inch frame didnt lend itself to basketball.

In the fall of 2016, Beth Ray encouraged her daughter to go out for cross country at Lincoln Northeast High School. Hannah had run cross country and track in middle school, but lacked expertise in training and competing.

As a high school freshman, she started out of the blocks slowly, finishing her first race in over 23 minutes, but Coach John Snoozy and some of the upperclassmen saw potential in the diminutive freshman. Two weeks later, she cut 90 seconds off her time and earned a second-place medal at a freshman meet.

Three weeks later, she ran 20:07 at a talent-laden district meet, followed by a 19:41 and 15th place at state.

Steadily improving

Improvement has been a benchmark of her glittering career. Entering her final track season at Lincoln Northeast, the girl who once looked to carve her niche in athletics has rewritten virtually every girls distance record on the books at the esteemed 78-year-old high school.

The four-time state cross country meet qualifier and three-time Class A state medalist holds all of her high schools cross country course records, including a school all-course record time of 18 minutes, 51 seconds in the 5K.

Her senior season of cross country last fall included an individual title at the A-4 district meet, where she ran 19:07, and a fifth-place finish in a talented Class A field.

On the track oval, Hannah holds school records in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs with times of 5:08 and 11:17, respectively. Her track goals this spring are to lower her school-record time in the 1,600 meters and to finish the 3,200 meters in under 11 minutes.

Middle distance is not her forte, but she hopes to add the 800-meter mark to her slew of school records this spring.

With the girls running programs low in numbers, Hannah has found a warm reception while practicing with the Northeast boys teams. "We dont have a lot of depth in the girls programs, so theres no girl there to push me," said Hannah. "The guys have been very supportive of having me run with them."

Lincoln Northeast's Hannah Ray (4) and Lincoln Southwest's Lindsey Blehm race in the 3,200-meter run May 10, 2019 during the A-1 district track meet at Beechner Athletic Complex.

Scholarly, too

Hannah also posts impressive numbers in the classroom, where she has posted a cumulative GPA of 4.371. She plans to major in biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Hannah has been an ambassador for our sport among others, said her head coach, John Snoozy. At this years state cross country meet, multiple coaches told me how impressed they were with Hannah as a distance runner and her display of sportsmanship with other competitors.

The daughter of Chad and Beth Ray has been selected as one of two Star City Sports Youth Athletes of the Year and will be honored at the upcoming Girls & Women in Sports & Fitness banquet.

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The 2020 Girls and Women in Sports and Fitness Youth Athletes of the Year - Lincoln Journal Star

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