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Friendship Helps Teen Choose A Healthy Path

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By CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: December 28, 2007

PALMETTO - When Palmetto High School sophomore Richard Reyna is running, his past fades away.

He is no longer the boy who got suspended from school or the student who got D's and F's.

When he is racing, nothing else matters: He is just a runner, and outsiders can see his talent.

A year ago, before the 15-year-old discovered his talent for cross-country running and got his life on track, Reyna's future was cloudier. He was known for being sassy with teachers, getting failing grades and swearing in class. His rowdiness and lack of focus almost got him kicked out of Junior ROTC.

That is how Jessica Hafey, a Palmetto High senior, first saw Reyna: obnoxious, loud and rude toward adults.

Then she saw him run, and oh, boy, was he fast, she thought. She began to think there was more to Reyna, that he was not only a great runner, but a great person.

"I saw he had potential," said Hafey, 18. "Running just comes so naturally to him."

So she hatched an idea to teach Reyna how to channel his energies into long-distance running, which requires endurance, commitment and focus.

What started as a good deed to help a peer evolved into a friendship that is a model for how a teenager headed in the wrong direction can sometimes turn a corner if just one caring person enters his life.

Running became Reyna's outlet. It turns out he is very talented. In November, Reyna went to the state cross-country championship, the first Palmetto High runner to do so in nearly a decade.

"It feels so good," he said. "Running gets me away from things; it lets me forget."

He credits, in large part, his relationship with Hafey for his turnaround in attitude, respect for himself and others, and his new study habits. Good grades are a must to be on the cross-country and track teams.

"It's really awesome I met her," Reyna said. "If I hadn't I would be down in the gutter."

As he spoke, Reyna turned to Hafey as if looking for approval. He blushed when she boasted about his talent. They tease each other like brother and sister; they are not a couple, just good friends.

When they are together, which is nearly every day for ROTC and running, they are inseparable. People call them by their nickname, "Rafey," a combination of their names.

Before "Rafey," Reyna's days were filled with school detentions and suspensions that could have led to expulsion or dropping out.

Reyna moved from Texas to Palmetto with his mother and sister in December 2006. Football was his passion there, and being a running back was an outlet in middle school, but nothing like running now.

Reyna remembers that from elementary school onward he has often been scolded for his behavior. He lived in the principal's office in elementary school, he said.

As the new kid in Palmetto, he was trying to make friends. Impressing people, he thought, would get him noticed. However, he was getting in trouble by swearing and with his outbursts in class, said Liz Casteel, his cross-country coach.

Before Casteel was Reyna's coach, she was his health class teacher.

When Hafey told her that Reyna was going to join the track team, Casteel was skeptical. After speaking with Reyna, she saw he had changed.

"He could control his temper and didn't curse," Casteel said. "He did a total 180."

The first day of cross country, Reyna ran in basketball sneakers. He was the only one without running shoes.

"But he clobbered everyone," Casteel said.

At the regional competition, he came in 13th, qualifying for state. At the state finals, Reyna ran a 5-kilometer course, or 3.1 miles, in 17 minutes 35 seconds.

"And his talent hasn't even been tapped yet," Casteel said. "He could get a scholarship for college if he keeps at it."

Reyna said he wants to join the Marines; Hafey plans to join the Navy and will attend the Virginia Military Institute.

Reyna also has new friends who do not get into trouble and who do well in school. He goes to the library to study, and has better grades, including 105 in Algebra and an 86 in English.

At the end of the year, Reyna and Hafey will part when she graduates.

"She's leaving me," Reyna said. "I'll be very sad. She is the best person I have ever met."

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