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ABC27 Scholar Athlete of the Week: Leon High's Bryson Gonzalez

Posted at 7:06 PM, Mar 11, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-11 22:53:47-04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Leon High School senior Bryson Gonzalez's career has come full circle.

Bryson and his teammates made state in cross country as freshman, and finished at state in their final year.

"I could have given up, we could have given up at any point during that," said Gonzalez. "You want that for your senior year to finish as a pinnacle."

Gonzalez capped it off by running a personal best.

"It's always rewarding as a coach to watch an athlete blossom into a top athlete," said Andrew Wills, the Leon High School track coach. "He's just been good to have around for four years and the running is always secondary, but it's great to watch him progress to where he is now."

"It feels like we're putting a nice bow on things," Gonzalez said. "It's really surreal. I thank God and my family, and all these guys out here."

Gonzalez says he's hoping to put a bow on his track career and says academically, things have wrapped up pretty nicely as well. As student body president, Gonzalez has a 4.5 GPA.

"To these guys, I've tried to be myself," said Gonzalez. "I'm a really imperfect person, but I want to show them my values too. I wish for them the same sort of things that have been given to me."

"He's extremely bright, self disciplined, self motivated," Wills said. "And the 4.5, it's good for all the kids to look up to that."

"We're definitely a team," said Gonzalez. "There might be a hierarchy that I don't know of, but we all invest in each other, and I just try to be myself around them really."

Gonzalez says he plans to go to University of Florida, has applied to some ivy league schools, run for fun, political science or finance, and maybe going to law school.