This season, the boys track team accomplished something it hadn’t done since 2019 – win a region championship. The 4×800 meter relay team, freshman Vihaan Devireddy, Senior Dries Williams, junior Zach Hebler and freshman Dylan Smith, followed with an eighth place finish in the Class AAAA state meet. Additionally, junior Devon Belcher qualified for the state meet.
Head Coach Del Ellerton indicated that winning the region allowed the team to take steps toward rebuilding the program’s expectations.
“It was really good to reset the culture of the team by winning a region championship,” Ellerton said. “I always knew that was going to be within reach, but you still need a lot of things to fall in place. You can’t just assume you’re going to win, because on the day of the meet, they have to pull it off,and they did.”
The region victory was a narrow win, with the boys falling behind during the competition, and then regained momentum on the 3200 meter run. The team held a 9-point lead going into the last event, and ultimately held on to the lead.
“That whole sort of, on the edge of your seat, kind of waiting to see what’s going to happen, and the joy of actually knowing the margin of victory, when you saw how the relays finished …we hadn’t felt that for a long time,” Ellerton said. “This group of kids, they never felt that; so, it’s completely new for them.”
Senior sprinter and hurdler Jeremiah Miles dropped his 400-meter time from 55 seconds last season to 49 this season, a feat he credits in part to his junior teammate, Caidan Mitchell. Miles qualified for the 110 and 400 hurdles in the state meet.
“In the beginning, to see that he was running faster times than me, he was younger than me, so it made me want to compete with him more, and it definitely helped me, because I went from running a 55-second 400 last year to 49 and most of that was because I was competitive,” Miles said. “It really made me push myself.”
Miles was the only sprinter to qualify for the state meet, making his last practice an individual one.
“My last practice was weird knowing that’s my last ever practice that made it sound and it was just me out there, because I was the only sprinter that made state,” Miles said. “It was weird, just me being out there by myself, but it was very peaceful.”
Junior Talan Goncher, who competed in the pole vault for the first time this season, said the lineup for the region championship was quite different than last year’s, creating uncertainty within the team during the first few weeks of the season because of the high number of graduating seniors.
“At the start of the year, our team felt like it was lacking some of our fastest people because of the seniors who had graduated last year, but everyone on the team worked really hard to improve their times and heights, which gave us our first region win in years,” Goncher said.
Despite this being Goncher’s first year competing in pole vault, he won the region. He explained how competing in track and field can be stressful because of the nature of the sport and how there is little room for error.
“Competing in track and field, especially field events and sprints, can get very nerve-wrecking because the time that you are actually doing your event is very short compared to other sports, which means that small mistakes can cost you everything,” Goncher said. “But it ends up being worth it if you are able to place for your team because you know that you could be the reason your team wins a meet.”
Senior thrower Akeem Cooper entered the region meet favorite to win. Cooper was ranked third in the state in discus entering the meet, but he surprised Ellerton in shot put. Cooper won the shot put event, and he was awarded the region field event athlete of the year for the second consecutive time, yet he did not achieve his goal of qualifying for state in discus.
“My region season, coming off of being two-time region champ and athlete of the year, was a lot,” Cooper said. “It was a lot on my shoulders going into region this year. I managed to gain my title as leadership back, and that’s just a testament to my perseverance. One of my events did not go as planned, but all you can do is just keep moving forward from there and not look back on what could have happened, but put forth the effort on what can happen.”
Ellerton said the coaching staff was confident and had a goal of competing in the 4×800 meter relay race going into the state meet, and the team came through with an eighth place podium finish.
“When you look at the state meet, you see everybody’s times, and that was the one event that we figured we’d have the best chance for, and that’s what we did,” Ellerton said.
Both coaches and athletes noted the spirit of the team is built around the connections they make with each other. Cooper, who has been a member of the team since his freshman year, said the friendships he has made have gone far beyond the track.
“The bonds on the team are bonds that will probably last a lifetime,” Cooper said. “When the girls and the boys are put together, it makes the team morale even higher, because everybody is friendly and nice and easy to talk to, easy to get along with. Some of these people have been on the team since I was in ninth grade.”
Miles expressed pride for the team’s improvement since the start of the season and reflected on his entire track experience.
“We had major growth in the last few weeks,” Miles said. “Everybody started to get their [personal record times]. We really got faster in those last couple of meets. The practices got harder, but we pushed through, and we performed up to the task. Overall, the season was really fun, and these past years on the team have been great. I’m [going to] miss it.”
