Track athlete juggles responsibilities

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College life can be overwhelming.

For Delta College track and field athlete, Chelscie Pacheco college life is stressful and demanding.

Pacheco balances school, work and track throughout her life. She is well disciplined and works hard to reach her goals.

“Sleep is a huge thing, so I always make sure I get at least six or seven hours of sleep,” Pacheco said.

The norm for Pacheco is a high-paced life with little time to relax. Her hectic week includes school and practice. Her weekend includes long shifts at Hollywood Café in Lodi.

Pacheco has worked there for over a year now and she’s able to request days off to make it to the meets. Before she had to miss Saturday meets for work.

Pacheco said track has made her disciplined.

Track athletes also have to turn in progress reports before boarding the bus on Saturdays for meets.

The athletes have meets every Friday or Saturday, later in the season they also have Tuesday or Thursday meets.

Overall Pacheco benefits from being a student athlete. She said one of the reasons she’s had such a wonderful experience at Delta is because of track.

She enjoys the atmosphere of track.

“I just love the sport of track and field, like I’m seriously obsessed with it,” Pacheco said. “I just like how there’s an event for everyone.”

Pacheco’s runs the 1500m, 800m, 5k, and her main event in Track & Field is the 3,000-meter steeple.

“We’re all like a family like a huge family, I’ve made like really good friends on the team,” Pacheco said. “That’s like one reason why I’m glad I joined because I know, my experience at Delta wouldn’t be the same at all if I wasn’t on the track team,” she added.