JRN 521 Assignment 4

Here's the story that goes with the soundslide on the previous entry.

This story is not done.
It is mostly quotes pulled straight from the audio because I somehow lost the notes I took by hand.

Therefore, this story may not be 100% accurate... I need to find out more about their running accomplishments, and I think they ran more than 300 races, but I can't remember the exact number...might have been 600 or more.

Anyway, I will figure that out later when I get ahold of them again.


Kate and Kelsey Calhoun are top distance runners at Bedford Senior High School, in Temperance, Michigan, but they’re more than just that--they are sisters, running partners, tenor saxophone players, Tae Kwon Do black belts and in the summer they’re swimmers.

Kate, 18, is a senior and graduate this June. She’s moving twelve hours away to Iowa, and leaving her other half behind.

Kelsey, 14, is the other half. She’s a freshman, and doesn’t know what she’s going to do once her sister is away at college.

“Her being gone for most of the year is going to be really weird for me. It’s going to be awkward running by myself now,” Kelsey said.

The Calhoun sisters have competition in their blood. Their older sister was a runner as well. Kate and Kelsey run three of the same track events: the one mile, two mile and four-by-eight. Living in the same house makes it easy for them to train together, year-round, and it makes them stand out from other runners at their school.

Their parents, Dan and Janet Calhoun expected them to act sisterly, but never expected them to be so competitive and have such similar interests.

“Sometimes I wish they didn’t [do everything together],” Dan said, “I wish one of them took up softball.” Their father also said that some health problems run in their family, so being active and healthy is important in the Calhouns.

“I always said they had to do something. This is what they chose,” Dan said.
Kate has been running year round since the fifth grade, and Kelsey started on year after that, when she was in third grade. Combined, they have run over 300 races.
They run cross-country, track, during the summer and at home. Sometimes they run with their dogs. They also volunteer at races they aren’t in which they aren’t competing. They are active citizens who give back to their community.

Even when they’re not on the track, they are still often together. The two play tenor saxophone for an after-school jazz combo. They also shared a jazz class together in their second trimester of the school year.

Besides running and music, Kate and Kelsey are both have black belts in martial arts. Kelsey doesn’t actively pursue martial arts anymore, but Kate teaches a class to children and continues to train every week.

Although they have busy schedules, they always make it work, and they truly enjoy the activities they do. They have friends from both sides of the high school social divide: the jocks and the nerds. They also have each other.

“Having us together really pushes us,” Kelsey said, “I know having two of us really works.”

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