TMS student overcomes obstacle to excel in track and cross country. – WCBI

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) A fourteen-year-old Tupelo Middle School student is making a name for himself in track and cross country, despite a devastating setback late last year.The track champion, and his friends, have bounced back from the tragedy, and are looking to shatter some goals.

Taylor Brown was in sixth grade when he realized his younger brother was a faster runner than him. Taylors Dad, Jim, gave Taylor an incentive to train harder.

He said, in seventh grade if you make the high school on cross country team, he would get me any pair of running shoes, so I wanted to get some new shoes after that, I started training to be faster than my brother, Taylor said.

Taylor made the high school cross country team in both seventh and eighth grade as a student at Tupelo Middle School. Last September he was named the number one 8th grader in the United States.

Then, in December, less than a week before Christmas, tragedy struck when Taylor and four other friends were in a car wreck. Taylor broke three ribs, a hand, and foot. He was facing a big challenge.

Mentally coming back from an injury in running is very hard, you feel like you can lose so much, I worked to get back, incredibly, I was back in after a week, running on a zero-gravity treadmill, Taylor said.

Taylor is faster than he was before the wreck and training with his teammates. Jaheim Bridges was also in the car wreck and says he is not surprised at Taylors speedy recovery.

Knowing Taylor, I knew he would come back pretty fast, he wants to strive to do better, Bridges said.

And for Taylor and his family, the experience has shown them the importance of faith and hard work.

It has led me to trust the Lord more, nothing is in your hands, its all in the Lords hands, cant control what happens, you have a play in what you do, but you cant control all the things around you, Taylor said.

It helps us remember we can never take for granted the time we have here on this earth and cant take for granted special gifts and abilities Hes given us, my prayer is Taylor would never lose sight of that, and he would remember all those gifts he has been given athletically are from the Lord, said Taylors Dad, Jim Brown.

Taylor will be working hard through the summer, preparing for high school.

Taylor says he would like to win a few state titles and help the THS Cross Country team win a title.

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TMS student overcomes obstacle to excel in track and cross country. - WCBI