Feature: Nowhere to run

by Ryan McCombs

The starter’s pistol fired and the sprinters took off down the track. The race was over just as fast as it began. He looked up at the big screen showing the results at the Reggie Lewis Center. He saw that his 6.75 second 55-meter dash was good for second place in all of division two for Massachusetts.

Sean McCombs is a junior in high school. Coming off a successful winter track season, he was readying himself for the most important few months of his young career. Junior year is the most important year for athletes to make themselves known to recruiters and potential colleges and universities. For McCombs, the spring track season is where he shines the brightest.

“My two main events happen in the spring, the 100-meter race and the 200-meter race. The 55-meter race is the main short sprinting event during the winter season, so I don’t get to look my best during the winter,” he said.

So far, Mccombs has drawn the interest of a few division 1 and division 2 schools. He has been in contact with UMass Lowell, Assumption College, Tiffin University, Bryant University, and various division 3 schools. He saw this spring season as an opportunity to really make the impression he needed to on these coaches. But now, he feels helpless. “There’s nothing I can do. I’m frustrated, angry, and disappointed. I put in a lot of work during the summer and the fall for the spring season this year. Even during the winter season, I was focusing a lot of my energy on this upcoming season and in the

Ryan McCombs is trying to avoid going insane during quarantine by creating a routine of reading, writing, and exercising.

blink of an eye, its gone,” he said.

McCombs is able to find some comfort in the fact that everyone who is trying to get recruited is experiencing the same thing. “This is happening to all of us so all I can really do is train hard for next winter season and hope for the best,” he said.