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THE TOTAL PACKAGE: Heggar Combines Academics, Athletics, Leadership As A Beacon Of Light For The Eagles
CHELSEA HEGGAR REPRESENTS EVERYTHING THAT IS RIGHT AT KLEIN FOREST HIGH SCHOOL.
She is a National Honor Roll student with a 5.0 GPA; she’s a tremendous leader and a great athlete.
Those aren’t our words; that’s from her coach, Shannon Wright, who has built his girls track program into a recognized city power.
Heggar’s track prowess dates back to the sixth grade in PE class.
“I’m in gym, and the coach lines us all up,” the senior said. “It’s a race that is about 50 yards. I leave everyone. I was pretty shocked. I went home and told my dad, ‘I think I’m pretty fast’.”
The rest is history.
Heggar ran and jumped at Wunderlich Intermediate, where she still holds the school record for the long jump. She has continued her success while wearing the green and gold.
“She has been a captain since her sophomore year and is a four-year letterman,” Wright said.
“She can run anything on the track from the sprints to the relays, but she is a special jumper.”
Heggar has finished third in the long jump at the Regional meet the past two seasons and hopes what has been an elusive State meet is in her future.
“I reached State in the relays, but I really want to get there in the long jump,” she said. “I’ll be more prepared this year after seeing how big the track facility was at the University of Texas and how many people were in the stands. The lights were so bright.”
At Klein Forest, Heggar is a beacon of light in the classroom.
“It wasn’t always like that,” she said. “I didn’t like school when I was young because I wasn’t good at it. I wasn’t a great reader and had to work in small groups. Like track, the more you work the better you get. I applied that and would go to the library and read. I worked on my math and my writing. I became an all-A student. I’m beyond proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.”
With exemplary grades and elite athleticism, Heggar will go to college to pursue her dream of being a nurse. She is close to making her college decision where she will do both.
“The school I’m really interested in has my major, and it feels like home,” she said without revealing the school. “When I visited there, I didn’t feel like an outsider. The coaches and athletes already make me feel a part of the team.”
Heggar checks the academic and athletic boxes, but what about the leadership qualities Coach Wright mentioned?
“We have a ‘Big Sister/ Little Sister’ program inside our locker room where our older lettermen help the underclassmen,” he said. “Chelsea leads that program and is a great mentor to several girls. She’s my ‘go-to’ girl. If the young girls have a problem or concern, they go to her. If she can’t handle it, she brings it to me.”
Heggar added, “Look, we laugh together, we cry together, we complain together. It’s a place to feel safe. There’s nothing to be shy about because we are all going through things. I am, too. We have built a great sisterhood where we all have each other’s backs. Everyone needs that.”
Regardless of how she does on the oval this spring, Heggar is pure gold.
Time to Defend: Klein Forest out to fast start in defense of Class 6A T&F Crown
HOUSTON – Defending Class 6A State Champion Klein Forest isn't wasting any time on stealing headlines to open the 2020 men's track & field season.
Beating Fort Bend Marshall in a relay race will do that.
This past weekend at the Generation Park Track & Field Invitational, hosted by Summer Creek, the 4X200 and 4x400-meter relay teams for Klein Forest were able to edge out the Buffs.
"I knew we had to work for it but I went into it with the mindset I have for any other race," Klein Forest senior Auhmad Robinson, a Stephen F. Austin-commit, said. "I was happy that each and every one of us executed."
The 4x200-meter relay race was ultra-exciting with the time difference between Klein Forest and Fort Bend Marshall being just 0.35 seconds. In the 4x400-meter relay, the difference was 1.92 seconds.
Klein Forest isn't just the best just in Texas though.
The Golden Eagles are ranked No. 1 in the country in the 4x200 (1:24.52) and in the 4x400 with their time of 3:14.81 from this past weekend. The last of the relays, Klein Forest is ranked No. 6 in Texas in the 4X100-meter relay (41.09), which is the best among Class 6A teams in Houston.
"I'm overall proud of our success and the reason we are getting these outcomes is because we're growing as a team, not only physically but mentally as well," Robinson said.
WATCH: Klein Forest defeat FB Marshall in 4x200-meter Relay
Even though relays do carry a ton of weight at the state track meet (20 points for a first-place finish), Klein Forest could get help in other areas.
One area is the throws.
Last year, Maurice Westmoreland's fourth place finish in the discus and fifth place showing in the shot put ended up being crucial points for Klein Forest. Compared to last year, Westmoreland has improved a ton with personal records in both events already in 2020.
"The biggest difference for me from last year to this year would be my focus and gaining trust in myself," Westmoreland said.
This past weekend, Westmoreland recorded his first-ever 200-plus foot throw in the discus with a mark of 204-feet- 6 inches (36-foot-6-inch improvement from state) – which is currently ranked No. 1 in Texas.
At the end of February, Westmoreland hit 61-feet-5.5 inches (1-foot-11-inch improvement from state) in the shot put – which is ranked only behind Katy Taylor Bryce Foster's mark of 61-feet-7.75 inches.
"It felt great to hit those marks because it shows that I am where I'm supposed to be," Westmoreland said.
With the relays going the way they are and the accession of Westmoreland's throws, Klein Forest looks like an early favorite to repeat as 6A boys track & field state champions come May.
"Knowing that we are one the better teams, we work harder than anyone else to achieve that greatness," Westmoreland said.
Photo by Bradley Collier/VYPE Media