JEFFERSON TWP — Sammy Jo Barnes was in the sixth grade and riding home on the bus on the last day before Christmas Break.

Her bass clarinet was tucked away safely in its case, which she held propped up on her lap.

Then Barnes felt a sudden jolt.

Her bus had rear-ended the one in front of it and sent Barnes' head flying forward. It slammed down onto the case, breaking her nose in three places and giving her a concussion that lingered for nearly nine months.

At the time, Barnes was a talented soccer and hockey player in the South Butler School District.

“In soccer, I was always the speedy one for sure,” Barnes said. “And hockey is my favorite sport. I loved it.”

But after the accident, those sports were cruelly ripped away from her.

Her doctor told Barnes and her family that she could no longer play a contact sport.

Barnes needed something to light her competitive fire again and her mother suggested cross country.

Barnes crinkled her nose at the notion at first, but relented.

Now the Knoch senior is one of the top female cross country runners in the state.

Even though to this day she isn't a big fan of the actual act of running.

“I love competing,” Barnes said. “I love winning. I love my teammates. I love all that stuff. The running? I don't actually love that.”

Barnes admitted that before her junior campaign last year, she sometimes slacked off on her training.

It wasn't until Knoch cross country and track and field coach Wess Brahler pulled her aside and told her she had the talent to be great that she began zeroing in on her running.

“I wouldn't run on off days,” Barnes said. “I wouldn't run on my own. I regret that now.”

What Barnes doesn't regret is being a runner.

“Honestly, I probably would have ended up doing cross country eventually, somehow,” Barnes said. “Now that I'm in it, I couldn't imagine not doing it.”

Barnes flourished at times last season as a junior and placed 30th at the PIAA Cross Country Championships in November, narrowly missing a medal.

But it was by no means a smooth season.

Barnes had to deal with another peculiar medical issue.

Toward the end of the race at an invitational in Grove City, Barnes felt her arms get tired, her eyelids droop and she turned a ghostly white.

She didn't remember finishing the race and fainted.

Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.

Each race after left Barnes afraid it would happen again, which impacted her performance.

“At first they thought it was a sugar problem and after races my coach would give me a glucose tab to keep me alive,” Barnes said. “They never found out what was happening.

“It's stressful,” she added. “But I've had to accept that my bad days can still be good and on a good day, I have to make the most of it.”

Barnes has set lofty goals for herself this fall.

“I'm really excited for this year,” Barnes said. “I want to beat Riverview — that's a big team goal of mine. I want to finish in the Top 5 at the WPIAL meet and medal at states.”

Barnes sometimes is in awe of how far she has come in the sport.

“When I first started, I'd run the rails-to-trails and stop and walk whenever we came to a bridge — and there are a lot of bridges,” Barnes said. “Now I'm running 9½ miles at a 7:30 pace.”

Barnes is also surprised about another aspect of her running.

That's she'll do it in college.

“My freshman year I was like, 'Nope. No running in college,'” Barnes said, chuckling.

Now she is being recruited by a number of schools and is in the process of narrowing them down.

She wants to major in communications or English and then pursue a law degree.

Barnes is also a talented performer with roles in a number of Knoch school plays.

Knoch's “Oklahoma!” won the Mancini Award for best musical and Barnes was part of the ensemble cast that also won a Mancini.

They received their awards from former “Hamilton” actor Christopher Jackson.

“It was huge and so cool,” Barnes said. “It's a lot of fun.”