Athlete of the Week: Vincent Vaughns
Since coming to Exeter last year, senior Vincent Vaughns has established himself as one of the fastest short sprinters in the area. Through his impressive dedication and diligence, he has broken numerous records and, despite facing a serious injury, has continued to train hard and strive towards his personal goals.Vaughns’ track career began in eighth grade when he first competed in a meet. After doing well there, he tried out for his high school team and quickly discovered that he had natural talent in the sport. Vaughns won districts as a freshman in the 100m and 200m dashes and went on to regionals.At the beginning of last winter, however, his track season was cut short. While running the 60m dash at a track meet at Harvard, Vaughns tore his PCL. The race ended up breaking the school record, but he was unable to compete for the rest of the indoor and the outdoor season due to his injury.“I’d say the injury definitely changed my perspective on the sport of track and field. I always associated myself with being the track guy so I had to learn that track isn’t something that’s guaranteed and that it isn’t given to me,” Vaughns explained.
“Whenever I’m having a bad day, Vince is always there to motivate me and provide me with the advice I need to move on and strive for a better tomorrow.”
His injury also taught him the value of enjoying the sport without taking it too seriously. “Be competitive, but it’s a race—if you win, celebrate, but don’t bring down others. If you lose, respect the other runner, go back to the drawing board, work hard and then just go again,” Vaughns said.Even when he was unable to compete, Vaughns’ commitment to the track team was still evident. Teammate and senior Jacob Pressman described how Vaughns helped in any way he could, including raking the long jump pit, timing races and keeping track of numbers. “He was like an assistant coach,” Pressman said.Now that Vaughn has recovered, he is wary of injuring himself again. Nevertheless, he is aware of the injury-prone nature of sprinting and is prepared to deal with small injuries as they arise. “Overall, I’m just trying to listen a lot more to my body and have a healthy and successful season,” he stated.Throughout his road to recovery, Vaughns has remained focused on his goals and is committed to leaving behind a strong legacy. He is currently in the country’s top twenty for the 60m dash and hopes to be top 10. He also aspires to become a New England champion.“I’m just ready to rewrite the record books. I want to leave the legacy of being the best short sprinter that has ever come to Phillips Exeter,” Vaughns said.Vaughns’ dedication and work ethic serves as an inspiration to his teammates. Whether in class, at the dining hall, or on the track, his commitment, competitiveness and focus are the same.The hard work that he puts in at every practice “makes everyone around him want to work harder,” said teammate and senior Bridget Higgins.She emphasized that his dedication has certainly paid off, which is clear from his recent accomplishment of tying his own record in the 60m dash coming off of his injury from last year.“He’s ruthless when he’s about to race and then right afterwards, he’s back to his fun-loving self,” said Pressman, adding that “He pushes us all to work harder as he’s always giving 110 percent. He worked insanely hard to come back from injury, but he never lost hope.”Higgins agreed. “If I ever need an inspirational speech I know I can just ask, and he’ll be off just talking about how great it is to be alive,” she said.Senior Abigail Dagher echoed this sentiment, remarking on Vaughns’ infectious hope and optimism. She explained that Vaughns’ motto is to always have hope, which he wrote about in his meditation and has been a guiding principle throughout his time here at Exeter.“Whenever I’m having a bad day, Vince is always there to motivate me and provide me with the advice I need to move on and strive for a better tomorrow. I really appreciate how optimistic he is because it rubs off on everyone around him, and I think everyone at Exeter could use a little optimism,” said Dagher.Next year, Vaughns will be running track at Yale University, where he hopes to establish himself early on as one of best in the league, either in the 200m or the 100m dash. In addition, Vaughns listed his goal of being an Ivy League champion as a freshman.“I’m just going to keep training and keep getting fast, and if those opportunities are given to me, I’m going to take them and run with them, so to speak,” he said.