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This piece is the first in a summer series entitled Sports Rewind. This summer, The Manchester Times will take a look back at Coffee County Central High School’s 2022 Graduates that continued to play their sport at a collegiate level. Rewind the clock and take a look at the CCCHS Class of 2022’s Freshman Year in Collegiate Sports. This series will run from May 24 to August 2, 2023.

On December 10, 2021, Patricia Barrera signed to Milligan University for Track and Field. At school, Barrera’s major is Exercise Science. Barrera shares, “I plan on going to graduate school after to get my master’s degree. With my degree, I plan on becoming an athletic trainer.”

Barrera’s time at Milligan hasn’t all gone to waste in her studies. She tells, “I love that Milligan has a strong faith backbone and how close the tight-knit community is. Since I’ve gotten here, I’ve been able to join a small group for Bible study and it’s been amazing.”

She continues, “It’s a small campus so you get to know everyone. Milligan made me feel welcomed. I love the small class size and you get to know your professors well.”

And, of course, Barrera has running to do. She talks concerning her performance this past year, “I feel like I am performing great this year. There is definitely lots of room for improvement in each event that I do, but I still have 3 years. I’ve hit plenty of PRs (personal records) so far and I’m excited for more.”

“So far, my PRs for track are an 11:04 3k, which was a 54 second PR. For the 1k, I’ve run a 3:13 and a 5:11 for the 1500 which was my first time racing those events.” In another meet on April 21, Barrera hit her PR again in the 5k by 49 seconds with 19:17.

However, cross country season did not go as planned. She tells, “I did not PR this past season for Cross Country. My first semester of college, I was really homesick and training went great, but it was a mental thing for me. Cross Country is 90% mental and I had so much going on during that time, so I struggled to hit my times.”

Despite the struggle, Barrera’s love for cross country was not hindered. “I prefer cross country more than track,” she says, “because you get a different scenery every time and I enjoy doing long runs. In cross country, you get to run through the woods, gravel and grass. Whereas on a track, all you do is run around an oval over and over again.”

“I love the atmosphere of cross country and it’s so encouraging when I can hear people cheering for me down the finish line.”

She continues, “My favorite memory with my team is when both the girls and boys teams won conference for both cross country and indoor track. My teammates are so supportive and we are always pushing each other to perform the best we can.”

Although Barrera has found a home in Johnson City, she will always hold Coffee County in a special place in her heart. She shares, “My experiences from Coffee County that have impacted my freshman year of college would be my church, school and work community.”

“Having a community is really important because they build you up and you have people to connect with. I’m super thankful for all the relationships I’ve created in Coffee County from the sweet older people from FUMC always encouraging and praying for me, my high school Youth Pastor always being there for me and my high school teachers and coaches for being so supportive.”