ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Five athletes from the Rochester area will forever be Olympians after competing in the Paris 2024 games.

Among those is Rush-Henrietta graduate Lanae-Tava Thomas, who competed in the 200-meters on the track and made the semifinals. She represented Team Jamaica.

News10NBC TODAY spoke with Thomas’ high school coach Mike DeMay, who said that as he watched Thomas, he had tears in his eyes at times. Coach DeMay said he always knew Thomas had the talent. It was just a matter of how far she was going to take her talents.

DeMay said he had unmatched excitement after Thomas qualified for the semifinals. Thomas moved up to varsity in eighth grade. She started out doing well at the sectional level and then went on to win at the state and national level. DeMay says she never once took her talents for granted.

“Lanae has a very outgoing, bubbly personality and that’s the first thing you love about her, she has a very care-free spirit,” he said. “But from the first time we saw her, we moved her up when she was in eighth grade and right away, you can tell that this person was going to be a star.”

DeMay has been in touch with Thomas. He says Olympians have graduated from Rush-Henrietta, which is something very few schools can say.

Thomas spoke with News10NBC in July after qualifying for the Olympics by running 22.34 seconds in the 200-meters.

“When I first crossed the line, I completely forgot it was qualifiers for the Olympics,” she said. “Seeing my parents so excited and so happy, and the crowd so exciting for me, I realized oh my gosh, I just qualified. Because I had no idea. I completely forgot.”

Thomas finished 18th in the semi-finals of the Olympics with a time of 22.77 seconds.