LAFAYETTE, La. —The path to excellence is never straight especially when your training grounds aren’t what you expect. But when you have a Mamba mentality like Juionr Talan Sievers, the difficulty and the challenge are what you look forward to most.
Not every run starts on a track. For LCA’s Talan Sievers, it starts at a pond just 0.2 miles from Lafayette Christian Academy. “It’s definitely preparing your legs to hurt, you know, you’re falling over. We have to jump over holes. Every step, every stumble builds you,” Sievers said.
“I’m a runner. The only thing that goes through my mind is running. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” he said.
Sievers saw early success, but obstacles soon followed. “It was hard. You think you’re putting in the most work, you’re showing out… and then you’re not performing whenever the day comes. It was just a bad year mentally and physically,” he said.
He didn’t let the tough year stop him, especially with guidance from his father. “My junior year, he really said, ‘This is yours to lose.’ That’s what he told me. I came in number one, so I had to keep my number one spot. I had to show everyone that I still had the abilities to perform,” Sievers said.
At regionals, he pushed himself to the limit. “Like, this might be my only opportunity. I got to go. So I sprinted in. I saw 14:30 on the clock, and there’s pictures out there of me just screaming and hollering the whole time,” Sievers said.
Sievers finished the three-mile state championship in 15:30.6, winning the individual title and leading LCA to runner-up. According to Athletic.net, he is currently ranked 2nd in the state with a 14:41.2. Yet for him, being number two isn’t enough.
“The mindset is definitely gonna go out there and, like I said, show them who I am. I’m going to win this race, and I’m going to show you who I am,” Sievers said.
For Talan Sievers, no matter how many times he steps on a track or runs around that pond, every mile is a lesson in dedication, drive, and the determination to be bigger than himself.
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