The Athlete: Diana Warrick

By Eduardo Encarnacion

Note: this recurring segment will feature an athlete from an NSA student who competes at another MNPS school. 

Diana Warrick is a 17-year-old senior in the Literary Conservatory, who is also an athlete!  

Eduardo Encarnacion: What is your sport and position? 

Diana Warrick: I’m a long-distance runner, and I did track at MLK for three years. 

EE: How long have you been participating and why did you join? 

DW: I started running five years ago because I was bored during the pandemic. Like so bored. I tried to break the world record for the most smiley faces drawn on a piece of paper. When that failed, I was like, “Huh, I wonder how far I can run,” and that was that. My mom encouraged me to join a team since I was already training. So, I did. I joined in 8^th grade. 

EE: Do you have any achievements you want us to know about? 

DW: (She did not state this, but she is 8^th fastest in MLK history for the 1600-meter run at 6:00) 

EE: Do you have any good or bad memories? 

DW: The hill repeats were bad, especially when it was hot outside. We would have to run up and down the same hill for 45 minutes straight in 95-degree weather...that was not great. The best memory I have was when my friend and I ran to a gift shop on the running route to buy stuffed animals. The coaches got kind of mad, but it was worth it. I got a beaver and named him Bieber Justin... you know, like Justin Bieber’s name reversed. 

EE: What is your training like? 

DW: During track season we had six practices a week. Three of those are regular runs where we ran around town. There were two workouts per week where we would go to the track to run really fast and die inside. On Saturdays we had long runs, which meant we had to run for about an hour. They’re more fun than you’d think because we saw a lot of adorable dogs at the park where we ran. There’s also strength training. The coaches love lunges, planks, and squats for some reason. There’s this one exercise called plank jacks where you do a plank and a jumping jack at the same time, if you can imagine that. We only did that once last season, but I think it scared a lot of people (me, the writer, I was one of them lol). 

EE: What’s it like socially to be on a different school’s sport team?  

DW: It’s pretty hard to fit in— at least that was my experience, especially as a freshman.  Everyone had conversations about stuff going on at MLK, and I wasn’t able to relate or contribute in any way. I did end up making some pretty good friends my sophomore and junior year. There were definitely some things I missed out on since I don’t go to MLK. Team meetings were usually scheduled for 3pm, which I obviously couldn’t attend because I had to drive from NSA to MLK. I always felt like I didn’t know all of the necessary information because of that. Also, a lot of people were already friends when I joined because they had classes together, so it was hard for me to join those pre-established groups. It did happen eventually, though. Like I said before, I made some great friends who I still talk to even though track season is over.  

EE: Earlier, you mentioned the commute. Do you have anything more to say about that? 

DW: It was very hard to get to practice on time.  I was occasionally left behind on days when we ran around town because I was stuck in traffic or had to wait for a turtle to cross the road or whatever.  

EE: Have you ever been injured? If so, how did it affect your sport? 

DW: I hurt my hip my freshman year and I had to miss a couple of meets. I hated it because I felt like I was making good progress and wasn’t able to compete when I felt my fittest. It healed pretty quickly, so I was able to do some meets at the end of the season. Oh, once I tripped over a curb and banged my knee on the road. I didn’t tell anybody because it was low-key embarrassing. I ran the rest of the way limping with blood dripping down my leg. The scrape looked like a firework; in case anyone was wondering.  

EE: What was it like balancing your art and your sport?  

DW: Practice only lasted two and a half hours but afterward I was always extremely exhausted, so I would get home and lay on my kitchen floor for a few more hours. That’s why a lot of my homework didn’t get done when it should have been done. It was very hard to motivate myself to do the assignments when my legs were burning and my lungs weren’t working anymore, and I felt like I was going to throw up. 

EE: Any advice for future generations?  

DW: If you’re doing a sport at another school, first of all, slay. Second of all, do your assignments (or at least start on them) during CCR time or any other downtime you have throughout the school day. If you’re anything like me, you WILL NOT get them done after practice.  

EE: Thank you for your time.  

Go royals!