by Justin Martinez | sports writer

Junior Matthew Tercero picks up the pace and is now in a full sprint for the finish line. After 6.2 miles of pure effort and energy, he has now crossed the finish line and officially completed the Jag-a-thon 10K run.

The Johnson Jaguars recently held the 4th annual Jagathon. The Jag-a-thon consisted of a 5K (3.1 miles) and a 10K (6.2 miles). Both students and other community members were allowed to compete in these events in order to raise money for the Jaguar Pride Association. Like the past three years, the Jag-a-thon drew in a variety of people eager to run and cross the finish line.

“I woke up early on Saturday to run the 10K Jagathon event,” Tercero said. “I posted a time of 53 minutes and 38 seconds. It felt good to cross the finish line and I plan on entering for the 10K again next year. Hopefully I’ll be able to improve on my time and finish in about 51 minutes.”

While some people do the Jagathon for competitive purposes, others don’t. There are a lot of people that don’t go full force during the events. Some people just like to enter and complete it; it’s not all about time.

“I ran the 5K with my family this year,” junior Jeremy LaBorde said. “I got a time of 35 minutes and 16 seconds but I wasn’t really trying much. I just wanted to keep up with my family and have some fun. To me, the time doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad that I did it. It was a pretty good workout.”

With such a positive turn out at this year’s Jagathon, it’s safe to say that next year will be just as successful.

“I ran the 5K this year just to see if I was in shape and I did pretty well,” senior Darius Barnes said. “I’m going to start training and try to finish the 10K next year. That’s my goal and once I set one, I make sure that I achieve it.”