Many athletes may refuse to shave off a goatee or wash their socks in fear of ruining a winning streak, but senior runner 'A Havahla Haynes tries not to follow any rituals — except one.
Haynes zones out before meets by listening to music, most recently "Best of You" by Foo Fighters and "Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake.
Haynes has many reasons aside from music to pump herself up for every race because this season marks a pivotal year for her as she runs her last season on the University of Wisconsin Women's Cross Country team.
With continuous improvement throughout the past years, Haynes is working toward her biggest goal yet, becoming an All-American in both cross country and track.
Coming from the small town of Phillips, Wis., where her high school consisted of 400 students, she worked toward becoming the best, and that meant coming to UW-Madison.
"Peter Tegen was here first and he had a great program," Haynes said of the former coach. "And I wanted to go to a school that would make me improve to be the best I can be."
Her goal to become the best started in 7th grade when she began running merely for the camaraderie, but it soon became a passion by her junior year of high school.
What has constantly pushed and inspired her to work harder is the competition.
"My brother had won state in high school and it kind of was a competition between me and him," Haynes said. "I got here and I saw all these people running so fast and I thought, why can't I do that? It's something that you want to get better and better at. How can I improve? How can I be the best in the nation?"
The competition with her brother and fellow runners pushed her to be the best, but it was her competition with herself that forced her to come back this year fully prepared for the season. With her final season underway, she has returned this year with focus and determination to be an All-American.
"For cross country I want to be All-American, and in track I also want to be All-American in the steeple chase for outdoors," Haynes said.
By running 75 miles a week this past summer and starting harder workouts with running at continuously faster paces of eight miles at a six minute pace, she maintains to challenge herself and work toward her goal of becoming one of the top 35 runners in the nation.
While running may seem to occupy most of her time, Haynes emphasizes her decision to put school first.
"School comes first, running can be put on the back burner," Haynes said. "If I have a test I will put my running in between studying time."
Being a student athlete takes up the majority of her time, but the girls on the team have become Haynes' best friends and it is their similar schedules and ambitions through cross country that allow for them to be each other's support.
"You don't have much social time," Haynes said. "Your team becomes your friends. I hang out with a lot of the people who are runners since we're on the same schedules."
With the support of her friends and teammates, Haynes pushes herself toward her goal of becoming an All-American, but it seems as though her biggest challenge will come after graduation.
After graduating with a tentative degree in sociology, Haynes intends to continue running by hopefully qualifying in the B-standard for the Olympic trials.
She will need to continue a rigorous training schedule by increasing her speed from a 10:19 in the steeple chase to a 9:55 or faster, which will qualify her among some of the nation's best.
By following her own advice, Haynes' unwavering determination and desire to become a top runner will undoubtedly push her to achieve her goals, and running at UW has given her challenges that she willingly faced head on.
"You have to know you want to be here and be the best because a team like this won't wait for you to jump on," Haynes said. "You have to know coming in that you want to do the work. There will be frustrations but everyone has them and you just need to work through them."
