The athlete: I want to compete against best

Advertiser Staff

KONA, Hawai 'i — Jasmine Norman, a sophomore at Kealakehe High, is a straight-A student, taking all honors classes. She has won leadership awards attending JROTC spring camp.

She picks coffee beans and macadamia nuts on her father's 8-acre farm.

She goes to Gold's Gym in Kailua-town at 5:30 every morning before school to work on improving her strength and endurance.

She is the current Big Island Interscholastic Federation girls champion in 130-pound wrestling and the 400-meter dash.

She drives herself uncompromisingly to be the best she can be in her classes, in her platoon, on the wrestling mat and on the track.

Not many girls wrestle on the Big Island so she usually had to wrestle boys. She beat two of them and then endured the taunting of schoolmates who called her "She-Man."

She was seriously sick with the flu the day before last year's state track championships, but she insisted on running and finished sixth — a few steps away from a medal. Then she collapsed and trainers had to calm her and re-hydrate her on the ground where she fell.

Ever since, she has worked toward her goal: "I want to go to states and compete against the best — like (Iolani's) Lauran Dignam and (St. Francis') Annie Kawasaki — and win a state championship."

She has popped out her shoulder, sprained her back, popped the bands on her ilio-tibia, and endured "tons" of bruises.

"I looked like a freak," she said.

"I've been training myself for the past year and now I might not even get to go.

"That really sucks. It's been pointless, a waste of my time. But thank goodness I'm not a senior."