Paul Scott and Rebel Hays, Courageous Student-Athletes
Rebel Hays and Paul Scott were 7 and 13 respectively when they began running together. Their first race was challenging, but by end of the season Rebel was guiding Paul through the mud. Paul happens to be visionally impaired, and Rebel is a guide runner who leads him through his cross-country races.
Throughout Paul's 8th grade year they were running junior high races with two-mile courses. When training for the Conference Meet, the last race of the season, Paul’s goal was to finish in the top 15. He beat his goal by placing 13th.
Last year, during Paul's 9th grade year, the two continued to compete at the junior high level running 2-mile races. Two-days after the first race the boys were told Paul had to compete at the high school level with much longer 5K courses. The boys wanted to continue running together and took on the challenge with a mere four days to get ready. At the time Rebel was in fourth grade running against high school students. He trained on his own so he could run faster than Paul so he could meet his race goals. It was obvious, because he of his size, that Rebel was much younger and that caught the attention of the media. They ran every race together last year but one.
This year, Paul's 10th grade year is the last year he is able to run on the team. The two don't have to think twice about racing, it comes natural to them now. Rebel trained with Paul’s team most of the summer, but now that he is in middle school, he can train with the junior high team.
The two of them love to do card tricks together, Rebel loves watching Paul work a Rubik’s cube and make stuff out of paper. They just joke around and are good buddies when they are together.