A Tweet That Aged Well

Ben Thompson

So now that I've told you about all the things they didn't do its time to elaborate on what they did do and why that tweet of the thousands that I've sent still stands out.

When Austin, Jackson, and Koby (and Viral) ran 1:31.24, a time that may not impress some of the people reading this, they set a school record that had stood since 2001 in the same event at the same meet that caught their coaches' attention three years prior. It's poetic really. When they ran a week later at the Section 3 Meet they lowered the record to 1:31.02. Austin's 400m time of 50.21 at the sectional also set a school record.  

When they were freshman, I probably would've asked a hundred other athletes in the school to come run track before I would've asked them and I probably did, but what's great about track and field though is that work ethic can trump talent and these athletes' careers epitomize that notion. They were the athletes a coach didn't lose sleep over thinking about "what might have been." They showed up to the first practice as freshmen and worked hard until the very last when they were seniors. When it was said in the tweet Coach Askren and I "expect great things from these athletes in the future" that literally could've meant anything. In this case it meant becoming the best in an event in your program's history and two of the three runners' high school career ending in Murfreesboro. Not sure what more you can expect from any athlete.


From Left: Austin Mullen, Koby Story, Jackson Helton, Viral Patel. 

Congratulations Gentlemen and Good Luck.