Exonians Race at the Nike Indoor Nationals

The eleven students who represented Exeter at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Courtesy of @exeterathletics

By  LOGAN BECKERLE,  CARLY CANSECO, and JILLIAN CHENG

Eleven members of the boys and girls indoor track teams participated in the Nike Indoor Nationals on March 8-10 at the Armory Track in New York. Many students, including senior Byron Grevious, placed in the 5,000 meter and one-mile events with impressive times. This year, there was a split in the team between Nike and New Balance Nationals.

“It was a great event,” Grevious said. “It was my third year doing it. I’m really happy to have medaled in both events and represented the school.”

It was also not a new experience for upper Jaylen Bennett. “Competing at a competition like this wasn’t my first time but it was really enjoyable. I was able to run against a lot of new competitors and also meet new people as well. I felt like the whole track community came together and just wanted to witness history,” he said.

Leading up to Nike Nationals, the track team was thriving. Senior Max Lacombe said, “Up to this point in the season, I thought I was doing really well. I had some personal records when we were at Boston University, which we do every year, and that was a lot of fun. I thought I was really building fitness well, and the training focus was great.”

There was a lot of preparation and even recovery throughout the season. Upper Jannah Maguire said, “I had a really fun indoor season and was able to PR a lot, which is always great. Unfortunately, I got injured during the beginning of the season, so it meant a lot to be able to recover in time to compete at Nationals.”

Grevious finished with two podium finishes and All-American times. His impressive results came from his experience competing, training throughout the season, and the support from his Exeter teammates. “I’ve had some time to see sort of what works with me mentally because this was my third time competing. Things weren’t too new, and I was just trying to utilize the same strategies, think about all the training I’ve done, and think about all the support systems and people who have supported me to get to the point where I am,” Grevious said. “I was also thinking about Coach Newbould and all my teammates even though they weren’t there. Just knowing they were cheering me on back home helped.”

Others had also leaned on their teammates on race day. “I just told myself to trust my coaches and my training. I tried to approach my race as a good opportunity to compete and show what I’d been working on in practice,” Maguire said.

“While I run I usually am pretty focused on the race. I knew that this was a big competition and very important so before the race I knew I needed to switch into a different gear. I knew my friends and family were watching me so I knew that I wanted them to be happy and make them proud,” Bennett said.

Located in New York, the competition venue was fresh and exhilarating to many. “Running around Central Park for some of our warmups or going into Times Square was sick. The Armory itself is also a really historic venue for indoor track, and that’s where I ran at the Melrose Games, and Nike did a great job with hosting everything,” Grevious said.

“The Amory was a really unique trazck to compete at. It’s in the middle of NYC, so there’s so much energy surrounding it,” Maguire added.

On the other hand, Lacombe commented, “I went to the New Balance Nationals last year, and I thought that it was a bigger event than Nike, at least. But I think that there’s some more novelty in the New Balance track just because it’s newer. And the technology there is a little bit more advanced.”

In the end, though, hard work paid off for many of these athletes. “I was confident going in and knew to trust my training,” Bennett said.