Juliette Laracuente-Huebner is proof that anything is possible, and that hard work pays off.
She accomplished a remarkable achievement at the OATCC Division 2/3 Indoor State Championships in Ohio, winning the team title….by herself.
The talented senior who attends Marengo Highland High School in Marengo, Ohio, was the only athlete to represent her team at the championship meet. She competed in the high jump, long jump, 60m hurdles and the triple jump, winning each event and scoring 40 total points, which was enough to win the team title.
While she shifted her mentality to the outdoor season and the opportunities that await her there, she is still appreciative of what she was able to accomplish, as well as the love that she’s received near and far.
“Not really,” she said. ”I still get chills almost thinking about, not just like the moment that it happened – like me winning this team title and stuff, but just like the people who I look up to and the accounts that are well known all over the world. they know about it and people to that extent just know my name and know of me and know what I did. That’s the part that really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Of the four events that Heubner competed in, she said that her performance in the hurdles stands out to her the most.
“My favorite one from that meet was probably the hurdles, only because I ran a super big PR,” she said. “And it was the event that I had the most improvement from from last year, I think almost like half a second. I ran like a 9.2 my junior year, and I ran an 8.56 at that meet.”
Laracuente-Huebner met the challenge of not only competing in four events at the championships, but also making sure that she was focused in the high pressure environment. She admitted that the high jump gave her the most anxiety out of all the events that she competed in. She overcame that anxiety by making sure to enjoy the moment, which led to her success on the track.
“I just had to have fun,” she said. “That’s my biggest thing, I tend to get my head and I tend to get this look – my dad calls it the ‘look like the ready look’ that I get on my face. But I do my best when I’m loose, when I’m having fun and cracking jokes and talking to people. And kind of not letting my anxiety get to me because when I have that certain look on my face is when the anxiety is bad. So I just have to keep moving.
I actually had five coaches who were there at that meet, just for me, just to help me out. And all of them had a separate part and did everything but they all kind of helped me stay calm throughout the whole meet. And without them I don’t think that I would have had anywhere close to the marks that I did that day.”
The poise and confidence that she has when competing is something that was instilled in her at a young age from a different sport that she used to participate in.
“It comes from being a gymnast from when I was little,” she said. “I was a gymnast for about eight years. I was training for level eight at 11 or 10 years old, which is very young. But in that sport, you have to have confidence in order to do well. If I’m on the beam, a four inch wooden thing, and I don’t have confidence I’m going to fall, it’s just that simple. But, you know, if I have the confidence, and I’m gonna stick my flips, and all of that stuff, like all my skills, and I’m going to do what I need to do and get the job done kind of thing. So I think that all of my athletic achievements in my confidence that comes in all my performances that I have, is from that young girl, going through gymnastics having to do 20 routines in one practice on a single event. And you had to stick the landings on everything and, and you weren’t allowed to leave the gym until you got it right. So I think it all really comes from that.”
Laracuente-Huebner is staying in Ohio for college, as she’s committed to the University of Cincinnati. The feeling of being at home and the family vibe that she felt on her visit was one of the big reasons that she committed to the Bearcats.
“I got onto campus for my (official visit,)” she said. “It was the second time I’d been on campus. We drove in and I kind of knew right away, but I hadn’t met the team yet or anything. So I was like okay Juliette, you know, but I want to see everything first still – my mind can change. Everyone on the team, boys and girls, throwers, distance runners, sprinters, jumpers, multis – everyone was just so welcoming and made me feel at home. I almost felt like we’d been friends for years as soon as I started talking to some of these people. So that was one thing.”
Laracuente-Huebner plans to major in nursing while at Cincinnati. She says that she wants to help people out as a nurse. Cincinnati’s nursing program was a real selling point for her and her decision to commit to the school.
“What really won me was their nursing program,” she said. “They’re only a 15 minute walk from three major hospitals. They have alot of clinical opportunities, and they were also willing to be flexible with my track schedule, and the track team and coaches and staff were willing to be flexible with my nursing schedule. So it was kind of like the pieces of the puzzle came together.”
Laracuente-Huebner went on to win the national championship in the girls triple-jump at the New Balance Indoor National Championships shortly after her amazing performance at the OATCC Division 2/3 Indoor State Championships. Now that the outdoor season has come, she’s ready for the hard work that she’s put in to pay off.
“This outdoor season is going to be a crazy one,” she said. “I keep telling everyone that. I don’t want to put numbers out there and screw myself over, but I think everyone can expect some big marks from me in the jumps, but also in the sprinting events. I think my training from August to now with the change that I’ve been going through – I joined a club, the first running club I’ve ever joined and the lifting that I’ve been doing – some big numbers are just going to come. I’m telling you.”
