Under the early summer sun, and amongst the leafy palm trees at the outdoor track in Greensboro, North Carolina, the boys of the Varsity track team will be competing in the 2016 IAFF New Balance Nationals for the first time in Glen Rock history.

Four students will be running the Sprint Medley Relay — a race that consists of four sprints, all of which are distances unlike.

Jeffrey Mate, who will graduate this June, will be travelling to Nationals just a few weeks prior to wearing his cap and gown to run the 400 meter portion of the relay, before turning in his uniform and finishing his fourth season of high school track.

Jack Boscoe (‘16) and Christopher Theuerkauf (‘17)  will both contribute their talents at running the 200 meter sprint in the relay.  

Owen Davitt (‘16),  who will be heading to the University of Rhode Island to run Division I track this upcoming year, will bring his record-breaking 800 meter sprint to the table for the last race of his high school career.

These four boys have been training for this event throughout their entire winter season.

“This group had a shot at Nationals in the winter, and they just missed it,” said Coach McCarten, who is in his fourth year of coaching both spring and winter track. “So the spring was a goal for them to get it.”

The boys each continued to work on their individual times at their specific distance, hoping to shorten them just enough to see a change in their overall time as a relay team. Boscoe, Theuerkauf, and Mate, who run shorter distance sprints, trained in the same group and did similar workouts. Owen’s workouts were tailored to get him in shape for a longer distance sprint.

“We knew we only had a few chances to run the sprint medley relay and get the qualifying time and didn’t want to wait until our last chance. When we found out we had the qualifying time we were all very excited,” Theuerkauf said.

Although not yet “officially submitted”, the boys’ time is well under what they would need in order to qualify for the National meet.

“It’s an exciting race because the 800-leg is pretty much the whole race- meaning that’s where you make up the most time. Luckily, we have one of our best runners running that leg,” McCarten said.

In order to “medal”, the relay team would have to place in the top 6 for their event. Qualifying for the meet is a hurdle in itself, and the team is pleased to have made it to the meet and to get a chance to run against some highly competitive teams.

“To actually medal will be pretty tough. You have teams there that have four guys that are going to Division I schools…we have one,” said McCarten.

The team is aiming to beat other New Jersey schools and plans to keep an eye out for Old Tappan. They would be satisfied with being the “best team in the state,” by beating all the other teams from New Jersey that will be participating in the event.

“I think I’m looking forward to just the experience of being there and seeing all the other amazing athletes as well as competing against some of the best in the nation,” Theuerkauf said.