Keeping Pace: Hannah Waggoner
9/15/2016 2:17:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country
From the time she was in the fifth grade, Hannah Waggoner always thought she was going to play tennis at the collegiate level. It was not until her high school classmate and future University of Alabama teammate, Conner Thompson, handed her a pair of running socks that ultimately influenced her decision to not pursue her dream of playing tennis, but instead run collegiately.
"Conner saw me run a couple of times and told me that if I got my time down, maybe I could walk on at Alabama," Waggoner said. "I was always running with the wrong pair of socks, so Conner gave me a pair of his. They are the socks that I wear to every race. I was wearing the socks when I made the time to be able to walk on at Alabama."
Waggoner is a senior from Murfreesboro, Tenn., majoring in mechanical engineering. During the winter of her senior year of high school, she was still making recruiting videos to play tennis in college. It was not until she was approached by Jason Wooten, the track & field coach at Oakland High School, that she decided to try out running. Wooten invited her to come practice with the team during the summer of her senior year. Since then, Waggoner has never looked back.
"I put a lot of time and money into tennis thinking that was what I wanted to do in college," Waggoner said. "To completely drop that for something else was weird for me, but at the same time, I was starting to get burnt out on tennis toward the end. It was refreshing to find something new and completely different."
Waggoner enjoys competing in a sport where you can work toward a clear goal and work to achieve it. She thinks that is something that makes running so unique. It's all up to the individual.
When deciding on where to go to college, it was an easy decision for Waggoner. Her father, Doug, graduated from the Capstone, and she has family in the area.
"I decided that I was going to come to The University of Alabama, regardless whether I played a sport or not," Waggoner said. "The opportunities that Alabama provided are above and beyond what other schools could have offered from not only an athletics standpoint but also academically. It makes for a great experience."
On top of the great resources that Alabama has to offer her, Waggoner is also thankful for the people that she has had the opportunity to meet on the team. One of her former teammates, Kaitlin Greenleaf, was an inspiration for Waggoner. Greenleaf taught Waggoner how to push through and never give up.
"We finished a race together," Waggoner said. "Finishing with Kaitlin really gave me the confidence to push everyone to be their best. I have to be the person that they look up to and respect."
The self-confidence that Waggoner was able to gain from the people she was around inspired her to be the teammate that she is today. As senior captain, she realizes that she needs to be a role model for the rest of the team. One of her most memorable moments was when the team competed against Oklahoma State in the 2015 Cowboy Classic in Stillwater, Okla.
"We were two points off beating Oklahoma State on their home course," Waggoner said. "Just knowing that the hard work that we put in [paid off meant so much to me]."
During her time at the Capstone, Waggoner has been able to meet a lot of accomplishments on and off the track. She enjoys being on the track team because not only is it a team sport, but you can also reach your goals individually.Â
"When you hit those [times], it's such a good feeling," Waggoner said. "It's a feeling that you don't have with a lot of sports."
Players Mentioned
