Athlete of the Week: Jericho Winter-Holmgren

Schools across Bibb County lined up for the region cross-country meet Thursday.

One Westside Seminole may not have the fastest time in the pack, but her drive for perfection comes out of a need to succeed in and out of the classroom.

You might think it's strange, but our Athlete of the Week, Jericho Winter-Holmgren doesn't love hanging out in a classroom.

"History. I don't know. I like sports," Jericho said.

We'll get to the sports later on because Jericho is making a name for herself with her transcript.

The junior carries a 94 average in gifted and honors subjects, and she's ranked 13th in her class.

"When I study, I really hate studying, but I think that you know it's going to pay off eventually," Jericho said.

Jericho knows it has to pay off.

"I've got two older sisters and a younger brother, and we live with our grandparents. So it's just basically we're on our own. We have to go to work. We have to get good grades. We have to do something that is going to help us better our future," she explained honestly.

Cross country coach Yvonne Apodaca has nothing but respect for the kid that's taking every calculated step towards her future.

"I mean she is making great grades. She is the fastest girl on our squad, and to do all of that she has that inner strength in her because she knows that's the way she's going to make it into college," Apodaca said.

But Jericho is realistic about her college career.  She thinks her patience in putting in that studying time she hates is the real key to her future.

"I might not be good enough to get a cross country scholarship, but I might get an academic scholarship or a lot of them,"  Jericho said with a smile.

Jericho says she would like to study early childhood development in college.