From Bartlesville Examiner...
Dreams can be sweet things.
Making them come true is a rocky path strewn with agonizing pain, character-testing challenge and the triumph of doubt.
Meet Ashley Barnes — a fleet-footed warrior who has made one of her biggest dreams come true.
Earlier this month, the Bartlesville High School senior sat down at a table and — while her parents Mike and Anita flanked her — put a signature to her dream to make it official.
With a swipe of the pen in her right hand, Barnes inked a letter of intent for a cross country/track scholarship at the University of Tulsa.
Barnes has chased since her eighth-grade year the vision of competing on a college Division I level.
“I probably didn’t really start hitting it (full commitment to running) until seventh or eighth grade,” Barnes explained Saturday. “That’s when I figured out I had a passion for running.”
Along the way since, she’s rocketed past some pretty impressive milestones.
As a freshman — after qualifying as the only girl from Bartlesville — Barnes bolted to fifth place in the girls 2012 Class 6A state cross country meet.
She finished less than five seconds shy of grabbing third place.
Barnes carved out 15th place as sophomore, while accompanied by the rest of the Lady Bruin team, at the 2013 girls state cross country meet.
Bartlesville finished seventh in the standings — a place that didn’t hint at the glory the Lady Bruins would capture the next year.
At the 2014 girls state cross country meet, Barnes and her teammates created a seismic upheaval on the Class 6A landscape when they swarmed to the state championship.
Barnes finished seventh overall.
Then arrived her senior season.
It started out like a NASA launching.
At the Bartlesville home meet, Barnes ran in another orbit, winning the girls run by a margin of 38 seconds in front of teammate Rilee Rigdon — a rip-roarin; runner in her own right.
But, Barnes’ senior year then hit a rough patch when she severely injured her ankle while striding along a gravel road.
She never experienced another smooth run the rest of the season.
In fact, she missed the rest of the competitions — including the regional — up until the state meet.
“I re-sprained my ankle a week before state,” she revealed.
Heading to the state meet, Barnes had ran a total of two miles in approximately a month.
But, she was fully committed to compete at state. It turned out to be a grievous decision.
“It was not anything I would wish upon my worst enemy,” she said about the struggle of running the three-mile course at state. “I think it was more that I had to keep my mental stability and really just had to grind. I just had to push through the pain. … It was painful, but it was worth it.”
And, how it was worth it.
Barnes managed to gut it out for 29th place (28 team points) out of 112 competitors.
She ran the fifth-fastest time for the Lady Bruins, which meant her result counted toward the Lady Bruins’ point total and their second-straight state championship.
“I was determined,” Barnes said. “That was really my goal, to finish in our top five so I could help score points for our team. I knew I wasn’t ready to be back in the top three.”
Bartlesville head cross country coach David Ayres saluted Barnes’ talent, work ethic, heart and persistence.
“She was arguably the second-best runner in the state until she got hurt,” he said. “Our girls don’t win two state championships without what she’s done for the program … with her leadership her sophomore, junior and senior years. She deserves all the credit.”
Ayres also complimented Barnes’ chance to complete in cross country and track on the major college level.
“It’s absolutely on her,” he said. “She’s an amazing young lady. She worked her tail off when she was a sixth-grader. … She deserves the opportunity to run Division I. It’s great for the program, it’s great for her. It’s a great opportunity for her to do well and put a stamp on what she accomplished in her high school career.”
In addition to all her other accomplishments, Barnes boasted the unmatchable standard of qualifying for all four of her high school years for state.
She admitted running in state as a freshman was difficult because she was the lone Bartlesville girl.
“I really didn’t have much of anybody to train hard with,” she said. “I was kind of training with the boys. Making it to state was so unreal.”
Her surprising fifth-place showing provided even more emotional fuel for her dream to run on the high college level.
Starting with Barnes’ sophomore year, Bartlesville qualified its entire girls team.
“It was amazing,” she said about running with the rest of the Lady Bruins at the 2013 state meet. “I loved it a lot more than running by myself — the team camaraderie, getting to warm up with the girls, having that support and backbone.”
The incredible destiny of the 2014 Lady Bruins cross country team is stamped indelibly on the pages of Bartlesville High sports history.
Despite coming off an unimpressive seventh-place team finish in 2013, the 2014 Lady Bruin squad powered to the state title.
“We really came in as the underdogs,” Barnes said. “We knew we had to make a name for ourselves. I think we knew from the very beginning of the season we had something special. … We went in there knowing it would take a lot of hard work. Our girls wanted to get the most out of that year and we got it.”
Barnes got plenty of adversity her senior year — but it still wrapped up with a happy ending.
Next up is her stint with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Barnes had seriously considered only Oral Roberts and Tulsa as her college options.
“I loved the ORU visit, but on the TU visit it felt like home,” she said, adding she felt instantly that she fit in.
Barnes now has more dreams — including winning a conference championship and making it to the national meet.
Before that, however, Barnes still has one more high school track season left, next spring.
On Saturday, Barnes began her training, on her hopefully completely healed ankle.
“I started running today,” she said. “I was pretty exciting. I started my track training this weekend. I want to work hard and get back to where I was before.”
Barnes knows the sweetness of dreams come true and the ordeal of the process along the way.
That’s because she’s been there before.
Dreams can be sweet things.
Making them come true is a rocky path strewn with agonizing pain, character-testing challenge and the triumph of doubt.
Meet Ashley Barnes — a fleet-footed warrior who has made one of her biggest dreams come true.
Earlier this month, the Bartlesville High School senior sat down at a table and — while her parents Mike and Anita flanked her — put a signature to her dream to make it official.
With a swipe of the pen in her right hand, Barnes inked a letter of intent for a cross country/track scholarship at the University of Tulsa.
Barnes has chased since her eighth-grade year the vision of competing on a college Division I level.
“I probably didn’t really start hitting it (full commitment to running) until seventh or eighth grade,” Barnes explained Saturday. “That’s when I figured out I had a passion for running.”
Along the way since, she’s rocketed past some pretty impressive milestones.
As a freshman — after qualifying as the only girl from Bartlesville — Barnes bolted to fifth place in the girls 2012 Class 6A state cross country meet.
She finished less than five seconds shy of grabbing third place.
Barnes carved out 15th place as sophomore, while accompanied by the rest of the Lady Bruin team, at the 2013 girls state cross country meet.
Bartlesville finished seventh in the standings — a place that didn’t hint at the glory the Lady Bruins would capture the next year.
At the 2014 girls state cross country meet, Barnes and her teammates created a seismic upheaval on the Class 6A landscape when they swarmed to the state championship.
Barnes finished seventh overall.
Then arrived her senior season.
It started out like a NASA launching.
At the Bartlesville home meet, Barnes ran in another orbit, winning the girls run by a margin of 38 seconds in front of teammate Rilee Rigdon — a rip-roarin; runner in her own right.
But, Barnes’ senior year then hit a rough patch when she severely injured her ankle while striding along a gravel road.
She never experienced another smooth run the rest of the season.
In fact, she missed the rest of the competitions — including the regional — up until the state meet.
“I re-sprained my ankle a week before state,” she revealed.
Heading to the state meet, Barnes had ran a total of two miles in approximately a month.
But, she was fully committed to compete at state. It turned out to be a grievous decision.
“It was not anything I would wish upon my worst enemy,” she said about the struggle of running the three-mile course at state. “I think it was more that I had to keep my mental stability and really just had to grind. I just had to push through the pain. … It was painful, but it was worth it.”
And, how it was worth it.
Barnes managed to gut it out for 29th place (28 team points) out of 112 competitors.
She ran the fifth-fastest time for the Lady Bruins, which meant her result counted toward the Lady Bruins’ point total and their second-straight state championship.
“I was determined,” Barnes said. “That was really my goal, to finish in our top five so I could help score points for our team. I knew I wasn’t ready to be back in the top three.”
Bartlesville head cross country coach David Ayres saluted Barnes’ talent, work ethic, heart and persistence.
“She was arguably the second-best runner in the state until she got hurt,” he said. “Our girls don’t win two state championships without what she’s done for the program … with her leadership her sophomore, junior and senior years. She deserves all the credit.”
Ayres also complimented Barnes’ chance to complete in cross country and track on the major college level.
“It’s absolutely on her,” he said. “She’s an amazing young lady. She worked her tail off when she was a sixth-grader. … She deserves the opportunity to run Division I. It’s great for the program, it’s great for her. It’s a great opportunity for her to do well and put a stamp on what she accomplished in her high school career.”
In addition to all her other accomplishments, Barnes boasted the unmatchable standard of qualifying for all four of her high school years for state.
She admitted running in state as a freshman was difficult because she was the lone Bartlesville girl.
“I really didn’t have much of anybody to train hard with,” she said. “I was kind of training with the boys. Making it to state was so unreal.”
Her surprising fifth-place showing provided even more emotional fuel for her dream to run on the high college level.
Starting with Barnes’ sophomore year, Bartlesville qualified its entire girls team.
“It was amazing,” she said about running with the rest of the Lady Bruins at the 2013 state meet. “I loved it a lot more than running by myself — the team camaraderie, getting to warm up with the girls, having that support and backbone.”
The incredible destiny of the 2014 Lady Bruins cross country team is stamped indelibly on the pages of Bartlesville High sports history.
Despite coming off an unimpressive seventh-place team finish in 2013, the 2014 Lady Bruin squad powered to the state title.
“We really came in as the underdogs,” Barnes said. “We knew we had to make a name for ourselves. I think we knew from the very beginning of the season we had something special. … We went in there knowing it would take a lot of hard work. Our girls wanted to get the most out of that year and we got it.”
Barnes got plenty of adversity her senior year — but it still wrapped up with a happy ending.
Next up is her stint with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Barnes had seriously considered only Oral Roberts and Tulsa as her college options.
“I loved the ORU visit, but on the TU visit it felt like home,” she said, adding she felt instantly that she fit in.
Barnes now has more dreams — including winning a conference championship and making it to the national meet.
Before that, however, Barnes still has one more high school track season left, next spring.
On Saturday, Barnes began her training, on her hopefully completely healed ankle.
“I started running today,” she said. “I was pretty exciting. I started my track training this weekend. I want to work hard and get back to where I was before.”
Barnes knows the sweetness of dreams come true and the ordeal of the process along the way.
That’s because she’s been there before.
