For the past 1200 days,  two seniors have practiced a sport every single day every year of high school, and are now part of the few students knows as 12 sport athletes.

Seniors Patrick True and Patrick Burns are considered 12 sport athletes for both participating in cross country, swim, and track all four years of high school; however, earning this title is not easy and has taken dedication and sacrifices, according to True.

“It does take some sense of dedication, but I think people would be surprised to see what they could do if they just try it. It’s a time commitment, but it pays off,” True said.

With no regrets, Burns agrees that the multiple sports are a time commitment, but practicing year-round, every single day, no matter what, is the best key to success.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a school day. If you’re in or out of season, you need to run every day to keep improving. We are always running all year-round so after school is taken up by time to run, and you can’t really do back to back workouts, they’re not going to be all that they could have been, so you need to space them out: morning and after school,” Burns said. “A big part of it is getting more fitness for cross country. [Swim is] not only about the team atmosphere. It’s also to make us better runners.”

Although the boys sacrifice time that could be used for sleeping, Burns feels that waking up early to take up swimming is worth it because it helps them in running cross country and track as well.

“[Being a 12 sport athlete] really helps keep us in shape, and in the winter it’s sometimes harder to get in really good runs, so then [swimming] keeps your system in shape better,” Burns said. “Generally, I like running better. I really love the cross country courses and the atmosphere. It’s more team-oriented than track.”  

This closeness within the cross country team has helped a lot, according to Burns, because then he knows he is not doing everything alone.

“The team helps a lot with your goals, and they understand your schedule more. They understand the commitments that you have to make. it’s just helpful to not do everything alone. It’s a great team culture, and then they help you – not just with running- but also they support you and your goals,” Burns said. “I want to continue running because I really love [it], and I love the team atmosphere. I want to keep seeing myself improve as well, and I think college will open new opportunities to that: you’ll get new experiences with a different coach and a different team.”

Even though True does not plan on running competitively in college, he agrees that after practicing almost every day of his high school career, he would still like to pursue this passion if he can find another group of guys with the same love for the sport.

“The only reason I would ever run in college is if I found a tight-nit team: a group of guys that had the same passion as the people in high school did,” True said. “Other than that, I don’t think I see myself [running]. The team [is the best part of running] because it’s kind of hard to run [by yourself]. When I go to college, it’s going to be hard to just go out and run by myself. I think one of the biggest factors about it is being able to go out and run with my friends.”