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Sometimes the real challenge for athletes isn’t being the best but proving that they can get better.

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Run, Forrester, run!

Associate Sports Editor

Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009

Updated: Thursday, October 29, 2009 21:10

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Mike Walczuk

Jessica Forrester, a senior on the Rainbow Wahine cross-country team, loves Yogurtland, Hanauma Bay and line dancing.


Sometimes the real challenge for athletes isn’t being the best but proving that they can get better.

That challenge brought Jessica Forrester to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Forrester, a senior on the Rainbow Wahine cross-country team, was a 2008 Division II All-American at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla. There, she won the NCAA South Regional Championship and placed 16th at nationals.

But despite her success at the Division II level and having only one year of eligibility left, Forrester decided to transfer.

“I wanted a new challenge,” Forrester said. “I already accomplished all I wanted at Tampa, so it was time to expand my horizons a little bit.”

Forrester knew of current cross-country and track and field assistant coach Althea Belgrave while Forrester was at Tampa. Belgrave was an assistant coach on Florida State’s cross-country team prior to UH, and when Forrester found out Belgrave was coaching the ’Bows, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I knew that Althea worked with (head) coach (Bob) Braman at FSU, so I knew she would put together a good program,” Forrester said. “I just wanted to be part of something up-and-coming, and UH is definitely the place to be.”

So far the move has been good for both Forrester and UH.

Forrester placed second in the first meet of the season and won the Big Wave Invitational in Kāne‘ohe in September. She was named the Western Athletic Conference Cross-Country Athlete of the Week following her first-place finish and has been among the top three UH runners in meets since then.

“Jessica is a very committed young lady with a good work ethic and strength of character, and who is committed to challenging herself both on and off the field,” Belgrave said. “(And) she not only challenges herself but she has the uncanny ability to bring this quality out in her teammates.

“She looks forward to the challenges and new experiences at the Division I level,” Belgrave continued.

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