Season Stories: Colin Abert

Colin Abert was the highest sophomore finisher at the state meet (12^th) after taking the mile out with a 6 second lead in 4:41 at the state meet. Not many people knew who Abert was before the meet, but they sure did afterwards. Abert went on to run 4:20 for 1600m while suffering shin splints that hindered his training. Going into the season you’d think Abert would have high goals, but he had just one: “At the start of the year I set a goal for myself to break 16 for the first time.”

Abert’s PR going into the season was 16:04 and he was able to shatter it during his first race running 15:45, he was “very thrilled” with the result. The next race at PTXC Aber took 4^th in 15:59, as he broke 16 once again, setting a president for himself. Sadly Abert was unable to re-match Dominic Deluca, who won PTXC, at Paul Short due to the cancelation. 

After this happened Abert focused on getting ready for leagues ad districts. At his league meet Abert felt pretty bad and couldn’t get his legs rolling yet he was still able to break the course record by 5 seconds in a 16:04 effort. Still, Abert had not set new goals for himself, but that all changed at the district championships.

Discussing districts, Abert says: “The next week was districts and I was really feeling good that day. I ran a 15:43 on the same course and felt very strong. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the state meet. I set a goal to come in the top 3.” With this new goal in mind, Abert started hydrating more and getting extra sleep to help prepare for what would be the biggest race of the season. 

As the race went off, Abert went out slower than he did the year before in a 4:46, just at the front of the lead pack. He decided to regroup and not expend too much energy during the middle part of the race, so he allowed a few people to pass him, until he was sitting right behind Ross Wilson and Kevin James. Going into the last mile the Aloha hills were really hurting Abert, but he pushed through, “I decided to stick with James and Wilson for the rest of the race. Going into the last mile of the race I didn't feel all that great but I pushed on anyway. The last hill was my favorite part of the whole race. I started going as hard as I could up the last hill to pass Wilson and James, who ran outstanding races. I was happy to claim 2nd in the last stretch of the race.”

Now that the state meet is over, Abert re-evaluated his season and goals, and will be attending FL Regionals, where he will compete in the Seeded race. He hopes to finish top 10 in the region and go to nationals.

Looking onto the track season Abert has set some big goals for himself: “I would like to drop to around a 4:10 mile and I'm not too sure about the other events just yet. My biggest goal for these upcoming seasons would be to not get injured and place well at the state meets. I would also like to run in the Penn Relays this year.”

So far he’s 2/2 on the goal’s that he has set, and now there is just one XC goal to go. And it looks as though it’s a very realistic one.