Gunter track star wins Silver Medal in the Pan-American U20 Championships

GUNTER, Texas (KXII) - Abby Elmore went to Puerto Rico over the weekend for the Heptathlon competition and came back home with the second-place title.

Elmore competed in seven events, and with other countries competing, she didn’t expect to even be on the podium. After the first event, she was in first place. Elmore says she was focused on enjoying each event she was in. “It was such a cool experience and it ended up placing me second,” she says.

What started with Elmore throwing a shot put in seventh grade, became a passion for Track.

Elmore travels an hour to Dallas six days out of the week in Summer to train, and she says it’s her passion for Track that keeps her so committed. She trains two or three events a day, and her schedule is flexible, depending on what she needs to work on.

She set a new personal record in the 800m run by eight seconds at the qualifier meet, the meet that determined if she would go to Puerto Rico to compete. Elmore’s mother says she was determined to go to Puerto Rico.

Elmore enjoys the versatility of a heptathlon since she doesn’t have to just focus on one event, “if I’m not doing well in one [event] then I can kind of switch it up” she says.

Elmore says Track is a tough sport: there will be rough days and rough meets. She says you have to enjoy it to stick with it and be good at it.

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