Not many people can claim that they have broken a school record in their high school, but junior Avril Donner has done just this not once, but seven times. After leaving an impression all the way back since her freshman year, running a 20:42 5K, and setting her foot as the fastest freshman girl in Coral Gables Senior High School, this was not enough as Donner proceeded to break the school’s 5000 meter record seven times during her junior year.
Always having a knack for running even in middle school, Donner enjoyed racing her friends, and many of the people around her realized her potential before she even saw it. Not having many sports in her middle school, Donner never had the opportunity to shine at an early start. Upon entering Gables, many adults including her father and middle school coach convinced her to join the cross country team.
“Since freshman year, [Donner] has proven that she’s talented and committed so it was only a matter of time before she broke the record. This season she not only broke it once, but continued to set new records with almost every meet and I think that’s just a reflection of the passion she has for the sport and the discipline she has to succeed,” junior Adrian Perez said.
At the Gables team, Donner was introduced to her first time being part of a team that supported each other and easily fell in love with the running and camaraderie. Donner also met someone who she attributes a lot of her success to, the former school record holder alum Isabella Morales. Together, Morales and Donner were a senior and freshman duo, dominating each course with their consistent and impressive times. Still, two years later, they both keep in touch, with Morales often offering advice to the junior whenever she needs support.
“Seeing [Morales] try so hard led me in that path of [thinking] ‘Wait a minute, you really can achieve a lot in the sport if you put all that effort into it.’ I feel like she just took me through the sport since it was my first time ever and she really was a good leader. She was just so mature and I’ve always tried to fall in her footsteps even though my time is faster than hers; she’s always been so wise,” junior Avril Donner said.
This choice to join the team turned out to be perfect for Donner as she took no time to solidify her place in the team as the second faster runner in the team, only behind the previous school record holder. Her streak continued during track season when Donner broke the 3200 meter record with a 12:23.86 pace in her first track meet ever.
Inspired by her performance in freshman year, Donner realized the potential she had in running and realized how amazing she could be if she trained as hard as she could. With the support of her teammates, Donner began to practice as much as she could during the summer before her sophomore and junior year and started to prioritize taking care of her body over anything else.
“We decided to start practicing in the summer because we agreed that working hard and training in the summer will help us get faster for next year’s cross country season. We just really wanted to get faster and we knew that doing all this hard work would be worth it and I think it was,” junior Sharon Contreras said.
After continuing to improve in her sophomore year, Donner was itching to do something amazing that would leave her mark at Gables when she entered her junior year. Despite her sophomore season showing performances she was disappointed in, Donner knew she was ready to do something new. On Sept. 20, she did just that. In the 42nd annual Spanish River Invitational, Donner broke the school record by 16 seconds with a 19:43.11, leaving her teammates and coaches alike shocked in the performance she gave.
“I was actually for once excited to run a race, and I really did believe in myself for the first time ever during Spanish River, truly believing I could break 20 minutes and not just hoping I could reach it. I think I finally got to the point where I was so physically ready that it would be problem if I didn’t go under 20 minutes and I knew that going in,” junior Donner said.
This streak would continue on as Donner kept on breaking her personal record almost every single race after that, breaking the school record at the same time until she ran a time of 19:19.90 at the Florida High School Athletic Association State Finals. At this point, Donner realized that every moment of practice was worth it and could not help but be proud of her performance, understanding that all the sacrifices she makes to balance school and sports were worth it in that singular moment.
“I see [Donner] as like the pillar of the team. She feels like an image of what can be and a huge inspiration of hard work. Watching her end meets with no one in front or even behind her make me feel like ‘Wow, that’s incredible’,” junior Lucia Astorga said.
Donner hopes to keep on improving her times until the end of her senior year, hoping better times will allow her the opportunity to run at good colleges such as the University of Florida. However, before worrying about college, she is mentally preparing for her junior track season, aiming to break even more school records on the way.
