PICKENS — Pickens County native Jessika Pace is a rising young female martial arts athlete who is certainly not wasting any time setting goals and achieving them, and that dedication recently led to national honors.

At the 2019 AAU taekwondo nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this month, Pace shined bright on the big stage, winning her first national gold medal in the 18-32-year-old division.

But despite accomplishing such a lofty personal goal, Pace said her passion for taekwondo is not about winning medals.

“It’s about setting personal goals, discipline and perseverance,” she said. “It was a great honor and achievement to compete on such a level with some of the best athletes in the nation. This was my personal Mt. Everest, something I won on an individual level in the ring.”

The 22-year-old has become well known to

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