Big Red Track and Field Dominates at Nike and New Balance Outdoor Nationals

By ETHAN DING and LILY RAMPE

This past summer, Big Red’s track team traveled to Eugene, OR, to compete in the Nike Outdoors Nationals.

The meet was held at the University of Oregon on the famed Hayward Field. Many students boasted personal bests, and senior Byron Grevious won a national boys’ 5,000m race. The team had just capped off a strong track season with an extraordinary 28 students qualifying for Nationals.

Most of the athletes felt proud of their performance and team dynamic at both Nationals and the season. “We have a really great team, and it was so nice to practice and compete with teammates who are always supporting me and pushing me to be better,” upper Jannah Maguire said. Senior Tenley Nelson added, “We had such a huge group that met these national qualifying marks. It really showed the depth and hard work we’ve put in for this team the whole season. So we really did a good job of building that up over the course of the season to culminate in this meet.”

Upper Jaylen Bennett, who ran the 100, 200, 300, and 400 meter races at Nationals, felt that he did his best in the 400m event. “I placed 14th overall with a time of 48.65 [seconds, in the 400m race], which was in the range of my best times,” Bennett said. In addition to a great individual performance, Bennett was proud of the team as a whole. “Considering the time difference and the travel, our team did very well. Our team at Nationals had many athletes from different grades, so it was amazing to see how everyone on the team put in their best effort.”

“So many people ran records that it’s kind of hard to believe,” Nelson added. “The most obvious highlight was probably when Bryon Grevious won the 5,000m and won by such a crazy margin. All of us were there in the stands watching when he won; it was a really big deal. Overall, it was a very successful meet for all of us.”

Beyond setting records and breaking personal bests, many students cited the location and atmosphere of the meet as their motivation and a large part of why this meet was so special.

Maguire said her favorite part of Nationals was the day of her race. “I competed in the 400 hurdles at Nationals. It was super cool to experience running at a bigger meet, and to do so at Hayward was especially great because the atmosphere and history there is so special,” Maguire said.

“It was really magical being in the stadium and getting ready to run, and the race itself is always super fun,” Bennett added. “My favorite part at Nationals was the track atmosphere. The Oregon stadium was beautiful. Also, knowing that many pro events were held here and that pro athletes ran on this track was motivating.”

“I would say the highlight of the meet for me was definitely just being on Hayward Field and Hayward Track. I’ve watched a lot of races that took place there. The world championships were there last year, the US trials were there, and tons of Olympians have run on that track,” senior Max Lacombe said.

For All-American senior Tanner Boulden, who competed at the simultaneous New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Philadelphia, PA, while the team competed in Eugene, the meets were a culmination of a great overall track season and a lot of hard work. “It’s a time after you have done the most work and you have the opportunity to show it. Even if you don’t perform well, you’re still there and that says something in and of itself. This year, we had the largest number of people to qualify for Nationals in a long time,” Boulden said. “I think it definitely shows how our team is going in the right direction, even on top of our NEPSAC win.”

The coaches were vital to the successes at Nationals, supporting the athletes throughout the training process and during the meet. Nelson said, “Overall, our coaches worked really hard to give us a great experience, and we owe them a lot for taking us all the way across the country to take us to this meet. It was a really good experience to have as a high schooler.”

In addition to performing well at Nationals, “We had a very strong season this spring, and we did very well against the other prep schools in the regular season,” Nelson said. “We were really happy with that, and it was a great way to finish it off, and on top of that, we had so many people qualify and go to these national qualifying meets. I think it really showed the depth and hard work that we had put in as a team, and that we did a good job building ourselves up for this meet.”

For Exeter, “Our performance at these meets says to everyone that we are nationally competitive as a school. Exeter doesn’t get a whole lot of recognition on the national scale since, historically, we’ve been mostly in the prep school league and not going to these big state and national meets. Through our performance this time, though, I think we’ve made a name for ourselves and really reinforced what we know our team is,” Boulden said.

Track and Field athletes competing at Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon.  Photo courtesy of @exeterathletics