Sharyland High’s Danielle Salinas wasn’t always a fan of distance running. In fact, Salinas quit track and field just a few days after joining the sport as a kid.

At age 10, Salinas was pushed to give the sport another shot. This time, Salinas stuck with it, making friends in the running community to push her.

Salinas has come a long way since then, evolving into one of the Valley’s top athletes in cross-country and track and field. On Friday, Salinas penned her national letter of intent, committing to continue her academic and athletic career at the Incarnate Word, a Division I school that competes in the Southland Conference.

“I’m just excited. This is something I’ve been really looking forward to,” Salinas said. “Once I finally decided where I was going to go, I just started to look forward to it.”

“I’m really proud of her,” Sharyland High head coach Melissa Dearth said. “She’s had so many choices this year she’s driving me crazy. She was on visits every weekend it seemed. She had so many choices it was just a matter of when she was going to make her choice. I’m glad she made the choice to stay in Texas so we can see her.”

Salinas joins the Cardinals after a decorated career at Sharyland High, finishing as a three-time state qualifier in cross-country, while earning back-to-back District 31-5A titles during her junior and senior year.

Most recently, Salinas finished 18th at the Class 5A state cross-country meet with a time of 18 minutes, 48.5 seconds. Salinas set a personal record of 18:31.3 during the FEAST Patriot 19th Annual Invitational on Sept. 4 as a senior.

While Salinas has grown as a runner during her four seasons with the Rattlers, shaving nearly 1:30 from her freshman best time of 19:54.2, her biggest area of growth has been her emergence as a leader for the Rattlers, Dearth said.

“She has learned how to lead,” Dearth said. “Before, she didn’t want to take the lead. She would try to stay third or fourth. Now, she’s used to leading races.

“Just the way she’s stepped it up in everything, we’re going to definitely miss her. She’s the leader of this team. This family is close knit. They’re very close to each other. That really helped in pushing each other. She’s just that kid who’s going to lead the team and we’re going to miss that.”

Salinas admits she was unsure whether she could turn running into a future. After making friends in the running community, however, Salinas began to fall in love with the sport.

“I had tried track earlier and I didn’t like it,” Salinas said. “I quit after a day. When I finally went and started making friend within the running community, that’s when I really started getting into it.

“Just being with the team and waking up everyday to be with the same people is always fun. We really pushed each other.”

With her high school cross-country career in the books, Salinas has turned her attention to her final track and field season, looking to build off last season’s regional qualifying season.

Salinas intends to major in biology at UIW, with aspirations of going into the dental field upon graduating.

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