Sometimes with a freshman at the high school level, you never know what to expect and how they will react to a spike in competition.  However, this wasn’t necessarily the case with Perry freshman Breanna Penenger.  The Jayette coaches knew they were getting a young athlete who was well disciplined and in great shape following a successful fall swimming campaign for the Jayettes.

“I think high school swimming has helped me tremendously,” smiled the Perry Juke Box star. “I know I wouldn’t be competing at the level I am without the work I put in during the fall and winter in the swimming pools.  Swimming is such an excellent sport as it helps you build energy and it allowed me to build my conditioning and strength and put it all together on the track.”

Despite physically being ready for track and field, Penenger says the biggest challenge was mental.

“It was really intimidating at first transitioning from middle school to high school.  In high school, you are competing against kids who really want to be there.  Once I got going, I fed off that competitive energy and really focused it.  Just like swimming, it really is only you and the clock and I was able to zone in on that.”

Penenger and the rest of her 4×800 meter relay team had to play the waiting game to find out if there time was fast enough for one of the eight qualifying at large berths.   The news came Friday afternoon.

“It was over lunch and I saw Emma (Olejniczak) and Sydney (Vancil) on their phones texting and then all of a sudden they started to scream and came running over to me to share the news.  It was really fun and an exciting moment.”

The Jayette 4×800 meter relay team will compete for Perry later this week.  Penenger will team up with Emma Olejniczak, Sydney Vancil and Mariah Duffy.