Gracie Aziabor ’26 leads Outdoor Track & Field through a genuine passion for building bonds between her teammates. She competes in the Shot Put, in which her personal best is 36’5.5”; Discus, where her farthest throw stands at 75’11”; and Long Jump, in which her furthest jump is 16’1.25”.
Aziabor was first introduced to track & field in middle school, but did not discover her true passion until Andover. Having competed in gymnastics for so long, she desired to try something different her Junior year, eventually choosing Indoor Track & Field as her winter sport.
“In middle school, it was a small thing that I did after school to diversify my athletics experience, because I had done gymnastics for a really long time. When I came to Andover, I figured I would try it out in my first year, when I came in ninth grade. It was my first year not having done gymnastics, so I wanted to find a new sport to spend a lot of my time doing, and that’s how I decided to start doing track as my first time ever considering doing it for indoor [track]. I had never even known that indoor track was really a thing, and then I stuck with it, because the team vibe was great,” said Aziabor.
Aziabor shared that her leadership is influenced by the Seniors on the team, who showed her how to lead a large team, when she first began her journey at Andover.
“The upperclassmen and the Seniors who were leaders on the team before me [influenced my leadership]. When I was a younger athlete on the team, I really looked up to them, and it was really a big deal to see how they interacted with the team and how they led a group of people that was so large over 100 people, and how they really leaned on each other and worked together. So that has inspired me a lot, and the collaboration aspect of it is really important to me,” said Aziabor.
Aziabor explained her passion for meeting new people on the team, which in turn contributes to stronger bonds among her teammates.
“I love socializing at practice, and I have met a lot of friends through it. My main goal during my time as Captain is to just meet as many of my teammates as possible and really bond with them in that way, because that helps with the leadership. When the whole team feels like one big family, it is a lot easier to rally everyone together and get people to support our teammates,” said Aziabor.
Going into both practices and meets, Aziabor explained how she motivates her teammates by reminding them that they are competing as a team and not just as individuals, reminding her team that they are not just doing this for themselves, but for others as well.
“When I try to motivate people, a lot of the time it isn’t competition based. Track is a very competitive sport, obviously, and also, it can be very individual, but I try to remind people about why they are doing it. Remembering that they are a part of this team, it’s something larger than themselves, but also they are coming to practice every day to work hard and get better. What they should really focus on is not necessarily always how they match up to the people that they are competing against, but also how they are improving on their intent,” said Aziabor.
Eden Dunleavy ’29 provided further detail into how Aziabor’s encouragement affects the team.
“I always see her around the track, cheering people on, and she is there throughout the entire meet, and that is really cool. It is especially good for team building, and how she is always really great with lowerclassmen and is really inspiring,” said Dunleavy.
Salali SaltPaw ’29 described what Aziabor has taught the team this season.
“[Aziabor has taught the team] to stay motivated and to really take advantage of the community you have, because it really helps a lot to have people cheering you on and always pushing you to be better, because it’s not easy a lot of the time,” said SaltPaw.
