This year, three of our students, Mike Hamer, Isaah Leiseur, and Cody Barth, joined the GV Jaguars for track.  They each had a successful season, with Mike competing in the four by eight, Cody as one of the top sprinters and mainstay of the 4×100 relay, and Isaah in the pentathlon. “Mike, Cody, and Isaah had solid years for the GV track and field team.  Even through injuries, the athletes showed resilience and guts. Mike was a valued member of the 4×800 relay team that had their finest finish at the most important meet of the year.  In fact, there were a couple of athletes on the relay team who could have opted out of the race as they had other races they could have concentrated on.  They insisted on running this race out of respect for Mike and the fact that Mike was a senior leader on the team,” said Coach Duttweiler when describing their exceptional year.

Sectionals is a time of putting your skills and abilities to the test. It’s a make it or break it, score or be scored on, win or lose situation. It’s stressful and intense, because it shows who’s the best of the best. In order to go to sectionals, you have to meet the requirements for the event you’re going into. For events based on distance and speed, you or your team need to have a specific time, or else you don’t make the cut. All three runners competed in sectionals, Mike and Cody in relays, and Isaah in the pentathlon.

Isaah Leiseur sat for an interview to share more about his experience in sectionals. The pentathlon is comprised of five events:, 1500m, high jump, long jump, 100m hurdles and shot put. Placement in each race or event doesn’t necessarily matter, it’s all about distance, height and time. For the pentathlon, the requirement for the pent is 2200 points, but if there’s not enough people, then the requirement for the provisional is 1800 points.  Those points are gained from each event that’s involved in the pent. These events are no match for Isaah Leiseur.

On the day of the pent, Isaah beat his main opponent by 16 points, earning him the Sectional Patch and the soon to be banner that will be placed at BCS and at GV. Isaah says he could’ve done better on the hurdles and the shot put, but he had a high stress fracture in his ankle from the previous season of basketball which never healed properly.  Even with an injured ankle, Isaah was able to pull through and win. Some of Isaah’s other accomplishments include two records at GV: high jump and 1500m. His favorite track to run on is Bolivar’s because it’s brand new. Isaah excels at the high jump and the 1500m, so it’s no wonder he likes them so much.

Isaah has been running for two years and he definitely regrets not joining sooner. The sectional champ plans to run next year and he also hopes to go to states. Unfortunately, he was unable to go this year due to his injury as well as a family vacation. Isaah was disappointed when he hurt himself, mainly because he was a captain and he performed well. Isaah said that he could’ve pushed himself harder, but maybe any harder would’ve broken his ankle.

Isaah would like to thank his coach and his teammates. He wants to encourage and inspire anyone who wants a different sports option to try track and to “never give up.” Isaah claims that he hates to run, but he loves to win and that’s a good reason to run track. It makes him feel good about himself and he certainly likes the attention he gets from it. When the gym is finished, stop by and see the new banner that will be hanging on the wall — maybe one day, yours will be on that wall too!