What a race for Zariel Macchia coming out of nowhere against an absolutely loaded field and winning the seeded mile with a SIX second PR! what a last lap for her. did not see that coming at all. finished in 66. didnt even know she was capable of that kind of kick. Looked like Bell had taken over and its really difficult to chase down Charlotte Bell.
Yes! He did indeed break (crush) my previous record. Pretty incredible it lasted this long… almost 22 years!
Getting that good at such a young age is an awesome, strange and surreal experience - it takes both serious talent and a work ethic few 14/15-year-olds have (I still haven’t had a soda since XC freshman year).
You show up to track meets and everyone knows who you are, they’re excited to see what you run next… college coaches already have their eye on you.
But there’s also a big bulls-eye on the back of your singlet. You get everyone’s best race for the next three years. No one says “he ran XX:XX last year, he’s better than me”.
They want to go take down the big dog!
Some will develop later and guys you crushed freshman year are all of a sudden on your heels or even beating you. It can be a shock and a let down… how you respond dictates what happens next.
Are you complacent? Can you bounce back from a bad season or poor race? Are you still just as hungry to train?
My advice to this young man is to remain thankful and humble (if I got that advice, I can assure you it didn’t really get through lol)… enjoy the process and don’t ever let your self-worth be defined by your race results.
Find something outside of running that you love - a school club, another hobby, anything… so that when you have struggles in your running (and you will), it doesn’t send you into a mental tailspin.
I’ll be following your career, young man. Go get ‘em.
Kevin - I appreciate that post about Sykes and the advice. Ironically, Ryan is one of my athletes, and my high school coach was none other than Tim Dearie when I ran for Northport in the 90’s. I thought you might appreciate the connection.
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