In the morning she laces up her running shoes; a little later she laces up her volleyball shoes, and in the afternoon, she laces up her pointe shoes. Freshman Lindsey Gore does cross-country, volleyball and ballet. Along with juggling all her sports, she is Clara in this year’s Nutcracker.

“[My favorite sport] is a three-way tie,” Gore said. “Volleyball is a fast-paced team sport, ballet is relaxing, and in cross-country, you have to push yourself.”

She has been doing ballet the longest, about nine years. She dances at Judith McCarthy School of Dance and she has been on pointe since fourth grade. She has been running cross-country since the beginning of eighth grade and has been playing volleyball since seventh grade. She would take extra ballet classes during the summer to prepare for the Nutcracker auditions.

“I didn’t expect to be Clara at all, but I had worked hard all summer in hopes I would.”

The Nutcracker is the fourth, fifth, and sixth of December . She has been working on her role for three hours every Sunday since September. She gets lots of the strength and endurance that she needs for dance from her running.

“My first track season was in seventh grade, but I really started running fall of eighth grade, “ Gore said. “It was my first cross-country season.”

During her eighth grade year, along with a few cross-country meets, she managed to find time to run six 5K’s, road races that are a little over three miles long. After cross country season she found time to run even more 5K’s, and is planning on running the mile and two mile during track season. After she runs cross-country in the early morning, she races to volleyball practice. Sometimes she has no more than 5 minutes to make it from cross-country practice to volleyball practice.

“In seventh and eighth grade I was libero [a defensive player who plays in the back of the court],”Gore said,”I am now the ninth grade setter.”

After having volleyball practice, with about two hours of athletics, she goes to school.

Along with that work, she has volleyball games on Tuesdays and Fridays, a cross-country meet almost every Saturday, and practice for both cross-country and volleyball throughout the school week.

Her schedule is more then packed, and she expects to continue with it through out her high school years.

“It would be nice to become a professional ballerina,” Gore said,” but it would require even more years of hard work. I will also continue in volleyball and running and hopefully a run a few marathons.”