More Than a Teammate
Coleman's passion for the sport is also echoed by his teammates.
"Coleman loved running a lot and the friendships it gave him. His junior season he would drive over an hour to weekend practices just to work hard and have fun with the team. He vastly improved as runner that season, and was awarded with the "Hardest Worker" Award at our banquet. Ever since eighth grade, running was a pivotal part of his life and something he dedicated himself to every day," David Ahlmeyer said.
Even older teammates like Nash Young, three years his senior, were impressed by his work ethic; "Coleman always pushed himself and gave it whatever he could on the given day WITHOUT complaining! I did a lot of the complaining for Coleman and myself lol. He always gave 110%..."
But as most runners know, every
day is not a hard run. The sport lends itself to a lot of jest and light
hearted banter as you trudge on through training runs.
"We would just goof off and joke around. We had too many inside jokes to count and generally to an outsider what we were talking about made no sense. His staples included hand signals to represent different routes and expressions. We would try to figure out how to rip off our teammates with fantasy football trades and also mercilessly made fun of a teammate who tried to date my sister," David added.
That camaraderie extended beyond the training runs as well and was hard to replace for his closest friends.
"During school, I often found myself (David) trying to find someone to text and joke with when I was bored, only to remember that the person I was looking for was him. After everything settled down after the funeral, etc. and cross country ended, my motivation to run was low. Practices were very different and it felt like something was missing. I would run by myself a lot more in those early weeks, something I hadn't done in years thanks to having Coleman to train with every day. After that, the new normal settled in, however, and gradually we moved on and had just his legacy and memories to cherish."
Coleman would've been a senior this year. I caught up with fellow Senior teammates, David, Maggie Medley, and Justin Wayment after the meet concluded:
