“I was hurt, I was heartbroken,” Nixon said. Nixon was really disappointed, given that the Rose team was in

the lead for this race.

     “I felt guilty because I didn’t stretch as good as I should have before the race, which is probably

why I pulled my hamstring,” Nixon said.

     The relay team lost the race because they were missing Nixon; his absence was felt by the team.

     “There is not a doubt in my mind that the four-by-one relay team would have won states hadNazir not gotten hurt,” Track coach Nnamdi Scott said.

     As a result of his letdown last season, Nixon plans on focusing more on stretching before races inorder to avoid injury. 

     Coach Scott has also learned from this injury that it is important  for his runners to be healthy and

prepared to run.

     “As a coach, it’s necessary to stress the importance of eating right, training hard, and stretching,”Scott said. “As a staff, we always tell our student-athletes to take care of their bodies in order to perform at their best.”

     Nixon is determined to win the state championship this year not only because of his personal

motivation but also because Rose has recently lost one of their football coaches, Stephen Lovett.

     “We just lost our coach from football, Coach Lovett, so we [have] him in our mind so we are going to

run for him,” Nixon said.