Her school doesn’t have a gym or track. Yet Fort Worth thrower beats odds to reach state
Fort Worth’s Peggy Carr will be competing at the UIL Class 4A state track meet on Thursday and among all the qualifiers, the Young Women’s Leadership Academy sophomore might have had the most challenging road.
The Class 3A and 4A meets start Thursday at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. 5A and 2A schools will go on Friday while 6A and 1A schools go Saturday.
“I feel blessed and honored to be able to represent my school and district at state,” said Carr, who will compete in the discus. “I believe that being a part of a school that empowers young women has played an instrumental role in my development.
“I hope I am able to inspire other young ladies to be bold about their aspirations and to put in the work, no matter the situation.”
What’s challenging about Carr’s story is that YWLA doesn’t have a gym or track on campus to practice.
The program has to search for a facility every time.
Most times, YWLA will practice at Farrington Field and Clark Stadium in Fort Worth.
“For a school that doesn’t have a gym or track, Peggy has had to put in her own time and own training apart from normally,” YWLA track coach Angela Moore said. “It just shows how much she wants this.
“Athletes need to have joy for their sport and Peggy has that joy.”
Track team at YWLA
Moore is in her first year with YWLA, having previously been at Fort Worth Christian Life Prep.
She admitted that she was taken back a bit when she found out the school didn’t have a gym or track.
“I was a little overwhelmed, but we made it work,” Moore said. “You do the best you can with what you have. It just shows you the kids have that passion. The odds are against you, but piece by piece, we’re trying to be a better program every single year.
“I have to give credit to the coaches. Those in the past years in front of me who started this program. They have done an amazing job.”
YWLA, which only consist of female students, is a tiny program.
Moore has four throwers, two on varsity and five runners, three on varsity.
Junior Haileigh McCarty also competed at the regional meet for YWLA.
With the addition of flag football to Fort Worth ISD, a lot of girls who normally go out for track and field, started to play. But not Carr, who has been throwing discus since the sixth grade.
She also throws the shot put and has been on the volleyball team during the past two years.
“I actually started running track for the conditioning while I was playing softball,” Carr said. “The head coach suggested that I start throwing shot put and discus, so I tried it.
“Over time, I realized that I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it.”
On the field, off the field success
Abdur-Rahman Taleb is the throwing coach at YWLA and said that it’s been fun coaching Carr.
“She has so much experience that she’s really intuitive,” Taleb said. “Our practices are very reflective in nature. For example, I’ll record her throw, we’ll both watch it, and more often than not, she’ll already know how to improve upon it before I say anything.”
Last season, Carr competed at the regional meet in discus. This season, she competed in both the discus and shot put. Carr came in third place in discus and earned a wild card spot to state.
She hit a personal record with 134 feet and 9 inches.
“I was simply excited for hitting a new personal record, but I didn’t realize until they called my name for third, that I had placed. After that, everyone was congratulating me and telling me that they would be surprised if I didn’t get the wild card to state.”
Carr is also a straight-A student in the classroom.
Along with school practices, she also trains with her summer track coach.
“I take every opportunity to get ahead on my school work so that I have the time to devote to practicing two to three times a week,” Carr said.
Added Taleb, “It’s an amazing accomplishment. Our school is known for its academics. Our students have had success in extracurricular activities such as music, art, and robotics. But this is a first for our school, to have an athlete competing at this level.
“Peggy made school history last year by advancing to the regional meet. And this year, by advancing to the state meet, she’s made history again. We’re all very proud of her.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM.