Baldwin High School girls track star Brittany Trawick poses with her medals after the Central Georgia Relays track and field meet held in Macon last weekend. Trawick finished first in both the long jump and the triple jump and was second in the 100-meter dash. Her performance was enough to earn her the girls’ high-point award at the meet.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Most athletes, at any level, will face injury in some form or another during their careers. 

Some athletes may let their careers be defined by that injury. Maybe he or she showed a mountain of potential early on only to be hobbled, leaving themselves and others wondering what could have been. 

Baldwin High School senior Brittany Trawick has reached a similar crossroads and is choosing to not let a foot injury she sustained a couple years ago define her varsity track career. After winning state championships in the triple jump and as a member of the 4×100 relay team her freshman year Trawick hurt her foot the next season. The pain remained last year when she was a junior, keeping her at well under 100 percent though she tried to fight through it. Now as a senior Trawick is proving to herself and her younger teammates that it is possible to come back.

“I’m just trying to be the best I can be and I want the younger people that come after me to work hard and stay humble,” she said. “I want to teach them to never give up because it’s never over. I was hurt and didn’t do very well last year, but I just stayed humble and worked hard so now I’m better.”

Trawick announced her comeback in a big way last weekend at the Central Georgia Relays in Macon. The fifth annual event featured athletes from 24 different schools competing in both boys and girls track and field events. At the end of the day it was Trawick standing tall as the girls’ high-point winner after winning the long jump (18 feet, 7 inches), triple jump (36 feet, 6.5 inches), and finishing in second in the 100-meter dash (12.61 seconds). Even when competing against the top athletes, regardless of their schools’ classification, from around the Central Georgia area Trawick shined brightly. Her triple jump was more than two feet farther than the next closest competition and she nearly did the same thing in the long jump, which she said is her favorite event in which to compete.

“I like the long jump the best because I can relax more,” Trawick said. “I practice hard on it, and it’s really fun to do.”

Although her performance at the Central Georgia Relays was outstanding, Trawick is pushing herself to run faster and jump farther as the track season wears on. She said she wants to reach 19 feet in the long jump, 40 feet in the triple jump, and 11.7 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Numbers like that would have given her first in both jumping events and second in the 100-meter at last year’s Class 4A state track meet.

Trawick still has some time to work her way toward those goals with the state meet still a couple months away. The next step on her journey will be taken this weekend at a meet even larger than the Central Georgia Relays.

“We’re looking for her to do well this weekend when we go down to Jacksonville for the Bob Hayes Invitational Meet,” said Baldwin High track coach Dexter Ricks. “There will be 150 schools down there. We’re looking forward to her competing pretty well against the best in the nation. That will be the most competitive meet we go to all year. That’s more competitive than the state meet.”

The BHS girls track star has something else on her side entering this weekend other than just her outstanding talent, which is experience competing against some of the best high school runners and jumpers well outside her home state.

“During the summer I jump and run against people from all over the world,” Trawick said. “I’ve been invited to all types of track meets and gotten to meet lots of new people.”

Athletes like Trawick are obviously going to draw attention from college track programs. She said North Carolina A&T and Troy University are two of her favorites right now, but she will take her time to weigh her options while she focuses on competing at the high school level.