Varsity track athlete Jessie Davis has been running track and field since she was young. Davis found her passion as a child, and continued to run for the next 10 years.

“I started when I was eight and I’ve been in the program for 10 years now. I have been in track and field for all four years of high school,” Davis said.

Having Head Coach Steven White as her coach has inspired Jessie to be on track for so many years .

“Ever since I was younger, I always really liked being a part of the team and Coach White has been my coach since I was 8, so I figured I would do it in high school as well,” Davis said.

According to Davis, track has come with its difficulties and hardships. The COVID-19 pandemic specifically made track even more challengingr.

“I would say the year of COVID really threw me off because after freshman year I was doing really well. Once COVID hit, it was harder to train and to come to the track so one of the difficulties would be the pandemic,” Davis said.

Despite the hurdles posed by the pandemic, Davis persevered and experienced one of the proudest moments in her running career.

“My proudest moment was making it to the States last year with my relay team. We worked very hard together and earning our position at The States was very rewarding,” Davis said.

Davis said that she felt a lot of pressure when she started track at Oak Park High School as people had high expectations of her.

“There was a lot of pressure on me in freshman year, coming from a youth track club just to be good and wanting to be the best, but I think I realized that that’s not what track’s about. To me track is about having fun and trying my best which is more important than being under pressure to be best,” Davis said.

Davis has spent countless hours on the field, pouring in work over her four years.
“A typical day as a sprinter on the track team would go from 3:30 to 5:00. I would warm up with the team and then we would do whatever running workout they had planned for us. I’ll go do some high Jump practice after that,” Davis said.

Davis reflects on her favorite memory and offers new advice to beginners as her track career comes to an end at OPHS.

“My favorite memory is the Ventura County championships last year. It was really fun to be part of both of those relay teams and see all of our hard work pay off,” Davis said.

Davis offers advice to beginners who are first joining the track team.

“For beginners at track, I would give it a shot and make as many friends as you can, that’s really what’s fun about it. Meeting new people you don’t really meet during school,” Davis said.