Modest Bogle reaps rewards

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on June 10, 2007 2:02 AM

• Print
• Email

Jania Bogle is so fast, yet so nice, that sometimes she worries about how bad she is beating the competition.

The soft-spoken rising junior at Princeton High School is the 2007 News-Argus Track Athlete of the Year following a dominant sophomore season.

Bogle completed undefeated seasons in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, culminating with state titles at the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A track and field championships. She also finished second in the long jump and participated on the Dawgs' 400-meter relay, which placed third.

Bogle repeated the 100-meter champ. She posted a time of 12.1 seconds, and followed that up with a gold-medal effort of 25.6 in the 200.

"She blew the competition out of the water in the 100," said first-year track coach Uvonda Willis. "She had little competition in the event all season long."

Bogle, who is of Jamaican descent, didn't even run competitively until she joined the Princeton track team during her ninth-grade year. Willis says she has natural, God-given talent that allows her to dominate her competitors.

"I saw the potential in the classroom and heard about what she had done last year so therefore my expectations were really high," said Willis. "She practiced the least, but performed the best. She just never seems to get tired."

Bogle juggled a full-time job around practices and meets, making her accomplishments all that more impressive.

In the time that Bogle did practice, she worked on using her upper body in her running, something that Willis noticed she wasn't doing earlier in the year.

"I think I did better than last year because I got faster," said Bogle. "My coaches got me to work harder this year."

When Bogle arrived for the state competition, Willis saw a runner who wasn't just physically prepared, but also mentally. While repeating in the 100 meters was expected, Bogle didn't expect to come away with the 200-meter title.

"It was definitely a surprise," said Bogle. "(In the 200 meter race) the girl was right beside me and I don't know what happened. I guess she got tired and I won.

"It felt really good to do that."

In addition to the individual honors, Bogle and her teammates finished state runners-up in the team portion of the day-long event. The Bulldogs won the Mideast Regional team championship.

With a host of honors including all-Carolina Conference, state MVP honorable mention and Princeton