Layna Marshall has gone to the Illinois state championships in cross country and track every year of high school — both sports, every season — except one cross country year, her sophomore year, when an injury interrupted the schedule. "We got through it." Since then, she's continued to improve. She's currently in statistics, has taken chemistry 1, chemistry 2, and physics from Mrs. Baker, and sits tied for first in her class academically. There are about four students sharing that rank, out of a graduating class of roughly 90.

She took the ACT once.

"I've always been really hard on myself," she said. "I want to succeed in everything I do." Part of that drive traces back to her older sister, who came close to graduating with a perfect GPA — but not quite. "I said in my mind when I was younger — I'm going to beat her." Their mother kept the pressure steady throughout: "She knows I can do well, so she just always has pushed me to do my best."

Layna is more STEM than humanities by her own description — math and science click naturally; English required more effort on the ACT. "I ended up doing okay on it." That quiet acknowledgment of a real weakness from someone tied for the top of her class is both honest and characteristic.

She describes herself primarily as a runner. Cross country and track have been her anchors all four years, and next fall she'll run for Vincennes University in Indiana while completing the school's Physical Therapist Assistant program — a two-year track that will send her into clinicals across the area before placing her somewhere she can work.

Nobody in her family runs. She came to it entirely on her own. By the end of cross country season this past fall, she was doing enough volume that she ran a half-marathon in Zionsville, Indiana, with her friend Aurora Amason from Centralia, a runner she's trained alongside for years. The plan that morning was an eight-minute pace. Aurora had other ideas. "We ended up holding a seven-minute pace the whole time." Final time: 1:33. They stayed together every mile.

Her events in track range from the 800 meters to the two-mile. Cross country is pure long-distance. The events share an ethic — they're patient, cumulative, and demand more mental resilience the deeper into the race you go.

Tim Bower is her math teacher and cross country coach — the same person, which matters. "He'll bend over backwards to help you in any way possible." She offered a specific memory: after practice one day, a friend's tire pressure was dangerously low. Bower stayed nearly 30 minutes to help fix it. "She wasn't even on the team." Counselor Mr. Blankenship has worked alongside her on scholarship applications and college planning throughout senior year.

The Illinois State Scholar recognition, to her: "Just a label to show the work you've put in throughout the years." Useful for applications, but not the thing she worked toward. The sister rivalry was more motivating.

Her older sister is a zookeeper at a zoo in Arcola — the kind of career path that doesn't earn a lot and requires four years of school, but rewards something less measurable. "She just does what she loves." The example stuck.

When Layna describes Newton, she doesn't reach for programs or facilities. She reaches for people. "Very small town, very welcoming. Everybody is just always willing to step in and help you wherever it is needed. Any small accomplishment doesn't go unnoticed." She comes home from a race and goes to church on Sunday. "Everybody's like, how'd you do?"

That's the thing she'll remember most. Not the times. The people following along.