By Cory Sparks, Sports Editor
Jaylen Grant has lit up the football field with his elusive returns, blazed around the track for two school records, and is one of the first boys that Indian Trail High School & Academy has ever seen performing acrobatic maneuvers on the sidelines as a varsity cheerleader.
But he is much more than just an athlete. The Communications Academy senior has excelled in numerous categories as an Indian Trail Hawk and as an overall person.
Athletically, Grant has been a standout player on the football field. He rumbled his way into the endzone for 10 touchdowns this fall, the most of anybody on the team this year. Seemingly the fastest player on the field week in and week out, Grant explains that it takes more than just the in-season training to kick his quickness up to the next tier.
“To maintain my speed, I really just try to work my hardest in the off-season because that’s where the growth of an athlete will come,” said Grant.
Along with that off-season training, Grant’s record-breaking success on Indian Trail’s track and field team also bodes well as proof for his rapid flash of speed. Grant holds Indian Trail records for the 55-meter dash (6.6 seconds) and the 100-meter dash (10.93 seconds).
Grant broke both of those records in his junior year, leaving all of this year leading up to the spring for him to improve even more so.
“Jaylen works hard, much like most of our track and field athletes,” said track and field coach Brian Vanderhoef. “But really he has natural speed. You can teach athletes to be faster, but at his level, much of his speed is natural.”
Additionally, when Grant isn’t on the football field or running around the perimeter of it for track, he is on the sidelines as a varsity cheerleader. Grant can be found practicing with the rest of the cheer squad, when he isn’t fulfilling his other obligations, and is one of three boys on the Indian Trail cheer team.
Beyond athletic ability, Grant has shown what it takes to be a student athlete by putting the “student” in “student athlete.”
“Jaylen was always outgoing and willing to participate in class,” said English teacher Danielle Ratkowski. “He wasn’t afraid to express himself and made the class laugh.”
Ratkowski also noted that despite not having Grant as a student anymore since sophomore year, he checks up with her on a regular basis to let her know how he is doing personally.
Grant has also displayed his talents through Indian Trail’s music program. He played in band for the first three years of high school, sharpening his skills on the snare drum, marimba, and various other percussion-based instruments.
On top of his consistent class participation during school hours, Grant dedicates any free time he has left over to the middle schoolers right across the street from Indian Trail.
“I’m a part of a mentoring group that mentors students from Mahone Middle School every Friday after school,” said Grant.
In addition to all the achievement in academics, athletics and music, Grant was also crowned Indian Trail’s 2018 Homecoming King. Grant was beyond pleased when he earned the title, seeing that he had been thinking about this moment for quite some time.
“Becoming homecoming king was an amazing feeling,” said Grant. “Just looking back at freshman year when I saw that moment go down at the homecoming dance, I wanted to see how that felt. The fact that it actually happened for me was just amazing.”
With Grant possessing a plethora of positive memories throughout his high school career thus far, he has ensured that not only will he always remember Indian Trail, but that Indian Trail will always remember him.