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Sophomore track and field team member Rebekah Klossner came a long way to attend Augusta University. While being over 13 hours away from home might have been hard at first, she always knew she wanted to come to the south for school.

"Everybody's like, oh, 'can I go home this weekend?' to our coach because we have weekend off from practices and I'm not going to be asking that question," said Klossner.

Klossner remembers sitting on the floor in study hall when she found Augusta University and immediately emailed head coach Jacob Burgamy. Within minutes he emailed her back asking for a phone call. She knew then this was the school for her.

She's also experienced a cultural shock coming from Rochester, New York to Augusta, Georgia.

"When I was on my visit, me and my mom were walking on the canal and this older couple had said good morning to us and I put my head straight down and I said nothing. My mom looks at me and she's like, you know, you're going to have to get used to saying hi to strangers down here. In New York you keep your head forward and down, so that part was definitely interesting," said Klossner.

In middle school when she decided to start in sports her mom was a bit disappointed she didn't go the route her whole family had, which was to play volleyball.

"But my first few years of track I think my mom definitely still wanted me to do volleyball until she saw how much I really loved it. Then she was like this is definitely her sport," said Klossner.

Not only has she done every single event on the jumpers and sprinters side of track and field, but she also does the pole vault. These events both hold her love and are a package deal.

When her weekends are free from practice she enjoys going to the beach or lake with friends, sleeping, watching movies, and playing with her 10-month-old puppy Pheobe.

Klossner had an embarrassing moment at last year's conference that she now looks back on and laughs at.

"When we're on the line getting ready to do our race, we usually get one warm up, and I wiped out the worst that I've ever wiped out in hurdles before. It was so embarrassing. I had track rash up my arm up my leg, and I actually ended up tearing something in my foot because I fell so bad. Right after that, I had to run, and I started crying in the middle of my run because my foot was hurting so bad," Said Klossner.

She's proud she still finished the event even though some people might have looked at her like she was crazy during it.

Klossner is excited for her second year on the team and can't wait to see what her future holds for her at Augusta University where she'll be working on getting her degree in cell and molecular biology.

Track and field schedule

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