By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Some high school athletes think that being a champion is the only thing that matters. For 17-year-old Hannah Pastor, championships are just one more thing that make it fun to be a kid.
Abundant Life’s standout track star will return in the fall as the only female state champion in school history, and also as the
Lady Owls leading scorer from last season in basketball.
Pastor qualified for this week’s Meet of Champs at Lake Hamilton with her second state track title in as many years.
Last year, she broke the 3A state record in the 400-meter dash. That record was broken by Shiloh Christian’s Lindsey Roe this year, but Pastor responded by simply setting another record — this time, in the triple jump.
Her leap of 35 feet, 1 inch was a new 3A state record, and earned Pastor her second straight state championship. Although she did not repeat in the 400, she did run second in the event. She also picked up a second place in the 200 meters.
Pastor qualified for the Meet of Champs with her record-setting triple jump, and bested that mark by four inches on Wednesday with a 35-5 jump at the Meet of Champs, good for sixth-place overall. She also finished fourth in the 400-meter with a time of 1:00.27.
Pastor says the past couple of weeks have been tumultuous, but worth every bit of the hard work.
“After I went to state, it didn’t really hit me until the next day,” Pastor said. “Coach (Tim Ballard) was like, OK, we have to start training for the Meet of Champs now. So we started practicing and running 400’s like crazy so I would be ready.”
Ballard lists Pastor as the mosttalented overall athlete the school has ever seen. Abundant Life has no track facilities, only a strip of a vacant parking lot between the school and nearby church, but Ballard said that matters little to Pastor.
“The thing about Hannah is, all that extra hubbub about championships and all that other stuff doesn’t mean much to her,” Ballard said. “She’s already said that she doesn’t have much desire to do athletics in college. She’s more about enjoying life and having fun and doing whatever comes up.”
After winning her state title in the 400 last season as a sophomore, Pastor switched focus to the triple jump for the ’08 season. That move paid off, as she earned her second-straight trip to the prestigious Meet of Champs event.
“That’s the thing about her, too.” Ballard said. “Whatever she wants to do, she does. Whatever she feels like doing, she gets done. Last year, we focused on the 400, and she won the state championship in the 400. This year, we focused on the triple jump, and she won the state championship, and then got runner-up finishes both years, also. So whatever her focus is for the time being, that is what she excels at.”
Ballard noted that, because of her easy-going nature, motivation can sometimes be an issue for Pastor. He said he even has to go so far as to try to make her mad.
“Coach Ballard has taught me so much,” Pastor said. “He’s taught me how to channel my competitive energy, and how to get my adrenaline going, because sometimes I’m a laid-back person, and I just like to have fun.”
She also credited head basketball coach Justin Moseley with helping her keep a positive attitude when things get tough.
“He’s always been a very supportive coach, so I’m really thankful for both of them,” she said. “I love them both.”
But Pastor’s athletic prowess is only part of the story. There are also other things that make her who she is, such as perfect grades, devout spirituality and love of the arts.
She has matched her athletic achievements in the classroom. Pastor holds a 4.0 GPA, and scored 22 on her ACT exam. She is leaning toward Oklahoma State, but has not ruled out in-state universities such as Central Arkansas and Harding, and is also considering the University of Arkansas.
Even with sports and academics, Pastor still finds time to pursue her artistic endeavors.
She entered the Arkansas Flower and Garden show last year, where her painting earned a third-place ribbon. She sold one of her paintings for $250 at Art for the Heart.
She also plays guitar and writes her own songs.
Pastor is interested in marine biology as a career, but is unsure of living on one of the coasts thousands of miles from home.
Meteorology — specifically, storm-chasing — is another passion of hers.
With all those interests, Pastor said she is unsure whether she will continue her sports career in college.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not really looking into doing sports in college. But it all depends on what the Lord has for me.
Whatever He gives me or whatever path He’s chosen for me to take is what I’ll do.
“I don’t know how it’s going to go because I really do have a competitive nature.”
She has one year left at Abundant Life and plans on savoring the camaraderie at the school.
“It’s really because we are a Christ-ian school, and because we have the Lord here,” Pastor said. “That’s God — God brings people together like that. I feel so privileged and so lucky to go to a school like this. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
