Zariyah “Z” Whitlock is a sophomore at Sahuaro who plays two varsity sports. She plays soccer, runs track and field, and is exceptionally skilled at both. She works very hard in school and the sports she plays and always gives 100% effort in everything she does. She gained speed and strength from running track and now she uses it for soccer. Her enthusiasm is contagious – she inspires and motivates others because of her dedication both on and off the field. She intends to go to college at Oregon State, not to play soccer, but for academics. She is very confident that she is going to college either way. For now, she likes playing for Sahuaro and will keep playing until she graduates.

Zariyah is very hard-working and has many people who support her, such as her family, her coaches, and her teammates. She’s on the FC Tucson Youth 2007 Girls Team and the Renegade Cheetahs 2006 which are both club soccer teams that she has been participating in since she was 9 years old. She has had a love for soccer since she was four years old and started running track this year. She was on the Arizona Prep team because of her amazing soccer skills and got selected for the 4A first-region team. I asked her how she doesn’t get stressed out from playing sports and her school work she said, “Time management, to be honest, because my school work can become stressful, but I just do it in my free time and chill on the weekends.” Sometimes it gets harder to manage, so she takes some days off from practice and does school work or chores to stay balanced.

This year is Zariyah’s first year of running track and she was a sprinter. She ran the 100m, 200m, the 4x100m and had to run the 4x400m one time, but she would never run the 4x400m ever again. She is a great student athlete, challenging herself with AP classes and new sports that she had to learn with a small amount of time. When she is relaxing after a long day of track or soccer practice she also likes to watching shows, “I love watching anime, but not in a weird way. ” Zariyah loves doing many different things and just keeping her mind moving non-stop because she wants to succeed in everything she does.