Greenwood sprinter Will Riley, center, found himself in fast company at last month’s Johnson County meet when he defeated Whiteland’s Matthew Wray, left, and Center Grove’s Micah Coyle.
Daily Journal file photo
Will Riley is going fast, not incognito.
The sunglasses Greenwood’s sophomore sprinter sets out to wear during every race are becoming his signature look every chance he gets.
“Unless an official tells me to take them off,” Riley said, laughing. “I just think they look cool, but if my coaches ask me, I tell them it’s to keep the wind out of my eyes.
“I thought wearing them would be a distraction, but it’s not.”
Riley, who in April took down a pair of school records that for decades seemed unbreakable, is one of the breakout stories of this boys track season in Johnson County.
It might seem as if Riley’s burst out of the blocks came out of nowhere, even though he’s been a student in the Greenwood school system since kindergarten.
“I don’t think any of us expected Will to break the school records like he has,” Woodmen coach Blaine Williams said. “The improvement that he’s made has been pretty remarkable.”
That isn’t to imply Riley wasn’t a major varsity contributor as a freshman. He placed third in the 100-meter dash at the Columbus North Sectional in 11.54 seconds, and followed by going 11:23 to take eighth at the Greenfield-Central Regional. He wasn’t able to qualify for the sectional final in the 200, Riley’s 24.57 being 12th-fastest of 18 runners in the preliminaries.
“Last year, I went into races knowing I was the youngest runner,” Riley said. “I think it kind of got in my head a little.”
Now compare last spring to this:
Riley blazed a 200-meter dash time of 22.48 seconds at Franklin Central to eclipse the standard former Woodmen sprinter Jeff Smith set in 1987. A week later, in a three-way meet at New Palestine, Riley broke the 42-year-old 100-meter mark of current Ben Davis boys track coach Mike Davidson with a time of 10.87.
Riley then lowered his own standard on Friday, running a 10.84 in a meet at Greenfield-Central.
Though the 100 is clearly his specialty at this point, Riley plans to work on improving his endurance in the offseason.
“My main goal coming into this season was the 100-meter record because that’s my favorite event,” Riley said. “Breaking the 200 record, it shocked me because I wasn’t expecting to break it. Hopefully, by next year I can be as good in the 200 as I am the 100.
“Sprinting the full 200, it’s hard on me.”
Riley’s improvement in one year can be attributed to a number of factors, including just being a year older, stronger and more experienced. A national competition in Philadelphia in June played a role as well.
“From my perspective, the thing that really made it click for Will was qualifying for the freshman 100 at the New Balance Nationals,” Williams said. “That was the spark. That whole weekend was kind of a whirlwind, but he ran well.”
“It was really big for me,” Riley added. “It made me love track a lot more, and definitely boosted my confidence coming into this season.”
Riley again broke 11 seconds at last week’s Mid-State Conference meet at Decatur Central, his time of 10.89 only to Plainfield senior Nayyir Newash-Campbell’s 10.87.
Newash-Campbell placed third in the 200 at last season’s state meet, a showcase Riley hopes to be part of this June.
“That’s Will’s goal for this season. He wants to take that next step,” Williams said. “When he gets out of the blocks well, everything falls in order.”
