Dryden indoor track & field impresses in postseason

The indoor track and field season came to a close on March 8 on Staten Island at the state championships. While it was unsurprising to see the likes of Ithaca and Lansing well-represented at states given their large rosters, Dryden was able to send some of their athletes to the big stage.

The Lions have just eight boys and eight girls on the team, but five athletes made it to states while many others excelled throughout the year. While head coach Karen Weaver knew before the season that they wouldn’t be placing as high in terms of team scores, there were plenty of positives in coaching a smaller unit.

“We definitely are close as a whole team,” Weaver said. “We do everything together, and the kids do a lot of things outside of the track. As a coach, I really get to know the kids not only as athletes, but as human beings and as students and what’s going on in their life. That’s a nice feature to have when you do have smaller teams. Sometimes you can spend more time with people working on starts or going over hurdles or working on hand-offs. You’re not too torn between everything. It seems like you have enough time to get around to everything.”

Of the Lions’ 16 athletes, Reagan Burnham was the most likely to qualify for states. It’s already impressive to make it to Staten Island for one event, but she one-upped the competition by qualifying in two events: the 1,000-meter run and the 1,500-meter run. She also won the Section IV Class C/D title in both events. That sums up what’s been a stellar sophomore season for Burnham.

“She’s just a go-getter,” Weaver said. “She works very hard. Whether I’m there or my assistant coach Steven Morrow is there watching the workouts, or if they’re doing a speed workout, she’s going to work hard whether coaches are there or not. She had a goal to get back to the state meet. Last year, she made it on to the intersectional relay, and she really wanted to go as an individual and not for an intersectional relay.”
Burnham also helped the 4×400-meter girls relay team qualify for states, though she did not take part in the event at the state meet since the times of her other events conflicted with when the relay race was supposed to happen. The team consisted of Jade Brockner, Nicole Morrow, Hannah Emmelhainz and Jillian Miller. What made this feat even more profound was that they had only raced in this event once heading into state qualifiers. Weaver put them in the 4×400 relay because she believed they’d have a better chance of qualifying than being in the 4×200-meter relay with so many other fast teams. Lo and behold, they finished in first place out of the Division 2 teams (and fourth overall), which was enough to get them over the line.

“We were the underdog,” Weaver said. “We had nothing to lose in this relay. I just went up to the team before they ran and said, ‘Girls, I believe in us. I believe we can honestly do that. You just got to give it everything. Reagan doesn’t want to go to states by herself, so let’s just go out. This is the last event. Let’s just go out and do it.’ And people hit their phenomenal split times. I was just in awe.”

There were also plenty of standouts on the boys team. Paul Busby finished fourth at sectionals and third at state qualifiers in the high jump in just his first season doing indoor track. He was actually a middle-distance runner for most of the season, but when he tried out the high jump during an open meet at Cornell University and reached a height of five feet and 10 inches, Weaver knew what his true calling was for.

“When he came back to me to tell me that, I said, ‘Well, I think you’re going to be a high jumper now,’” Weaver said. “Sometimes kids will do that. They’ll say, ‘Hey, can I try this event sometimes?’ And I’ll be like, ‘You haven’t been training for that.’ And then they’ll do it, and they prove me wrong, which I love being proved wrong. He did the high jump only four times, so for him to finish third at the state qualifier meet, I’m beyond proud of him.”

Eliot Couch also had a great season, finishing in the top three at multiple meets in the 1,000-meter and 1,600-meter runs.

“I’m very, very proud and very pleased,” Weaver said. “Last year, he got sick a couple of times throughout the season, so he really couldn’t compete the way he wanted to. This year, he stayed healthy sick-wise and he stayed healthy injury wise. He’s another one that just works his tail off whether a coach is there or not. He definitely likes to PR, and when he doesn’t, he doesn’t need Coach to say that he didn’t run well. He knows.”

The Lions hope that their resounding success in the indoor season will carry over to the outdoor season, which will be here in no time.