MANCHESTER, Conn. (WHDH) — There's a lot of stories about people doing the wrong things , but this one is about one high school runner in Connecticut doing the right thing . Even if it meant losing to a competitor at a cross country meet.
"I linked my arm into her arm without her permission and run with her to the finish line," Kayla Samuel said.
A simple gesture from a complete strange
"When I saw her, I sort of felt like she shouldn't have to go through that by herself," Samuel said.
Kayla Samuel and Maryn Valliancourt were running this past Saturday in Manchester at a state cross country meet.
Near the end of the three mile race Valliancourt tripped.
"I didn't want to just give up and just stay there. I wanted to at least finish for my coach,” Valliancourt said.
She did finish with Samuel's help.
"She told me not to give up and to keep going, and she wasn't going to leave me, and I just thought it was really nice,” Valliancourt said.
Samuel was even nice enough to let Valliancourt cross ahead of her.
"I didn't really deserve that, because she could have easily just went by me,” Valliancourt said
"She had a guardian angel that day watching out for her,” Valliancourt’s mother Kristen said.
A guardian angel that both mother and daughter felt they needed to thank again today at achievement first Amistad High School.
"You hear so many bad stories about kids, and there's such good ones out there that didn't run by her and pushed her to finish first,” Kristen Valliancourt said.
"We teach her to look out for others and not to be selfish or anything like that,” Samuel’s grandmother said.
A selfless act that both families hope their daughters grow from.
"Hopefully she'll pay it forward and do the same thing from this point on. I'm sure she will,” Kristen Valliancourt said.