By Justin Gaymon 

The 2015-16 indoor season is less than five months away, and Astia Innis is making sure she’s ready for it.

Since last week, the rising senior from Taft Educational Campus has spent her afternoons around the Armory oval, often practicing different combinations of drills with fellow Armory College Prep program members.

The aim is to improve her overall strength and fitness so that she can better her 100m, 200m and long jump personal bests once the indoor season arrives. She’s also fueled by the hopes of recording times and jumps within New York’s top 25 next year.

Innis’ best performance from the 2014-15 season came during the PSAL Bronx Borough Championships. There she earned top five finishes in the 55m dash (7.64) and long jump (15’ 0”).

She's setting her sights on running under 7.30 and jumping over 18” in 2016, as well as helping her 4x200m relay team again qualify for the NYRR Millrose Games, which she anchored to a 1:41.39 finish for third (fourth fastest indoor time in NY for 2014-15).  

But Innis wasn’t always so dedicated to track and field.

Though she was familiar with athletes like Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, Innis had never taken up track and field before moving to the Bronx from Montego Bay, Jamaica in 2013.

“Before I moved from Jamaica, I had never ran track or had any interest in it other than watching the Jamaican athletes race,” said Innis. “But shortly after registering at Taft, the track coach had me try out for the team. Before long I was obsessed with it.”

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