Breanna Thornton made her mother, Jennifer Grant, proud on Thursday when she signed her letter of intent for a full ride scholarship as a track and field athlete at Georgia Southern University.

“This is awesome. I can’t even explain it, honestly. I knew from when she was a kid that she would be something wonderful and she has never proven me wrong,” Grant said.

Thornton has made her mark as a captain on Eastside’s track and field team, where she leads both the girls and the boys.

“Bre is a different animal. She’s been the captain of our team and she’s not just the captain of the girls she’s the captain of the girls and the boys. She’s got that kind of mentality that people just wanna gravitate to her and follow her,” Frankey Iverson, Eastside track and field head coach, said.

“She’s always just been very motivated. You just tell her what needs to be done and she does whatever she needs to do to get it done. I’ve been super, super proud of her,” Grant added.

Iverson says Thornton’s extreme work ethic and determination has been her driving force. He says that she developed her talents on her own, but Thornton credits her mother for instilling her with such a strong work ethic.

“The drive and everything she has to motivate and to push myself in everything – that came from her,” Thornton said.

Iverson says Thornton is probably the hardest worker to ever come through the track and field program at Eastside.

“I can’t be more happy for her. She took it upon herself that she wanted to sign with a university so she wanted to work hard to do it. She was playing multiple sports and she decided she wanted to concentrate on one it resulted in her getting a scholarship so I can’t be more proud of her,” Iverson said.

Thornton is the 24th track and field athlete to sign with a university since Iverson’s tenure began in 2005.

“As a freshman she’s seen kids come through to sign with track and field. It’s just a building process. When she saw it as a freshman she wanted to be sitting there come four years from then so here she is,” Iverson said.

Thornton started track and field in middle school. Grant says Thornton saw herself getting better so she pushed harder to push herself to another level.

Thornton, who had a host of other offers, says she chose Georgia Southern because it had her major – athletic training – and that was her No. 1 priority. She says that when she went to visit she felt like she fit in.

Thornton will be a triple jumper and run the 400 at GSU. She says she wants to break her own personal records at the next level.

That mentality is what makes her special says Iverson.

“She’s a dog,” Iverson said. “She’s got that bulldog mentality. She’s gone go after it, she wants it, she’s gone get it. That’s how she is.”