When this year’s incarnation of the Red Devils 4x800 relay team met their 1984 counterparts last fall as part of the Evanston High School Homecoming festivities, it was difficult for the …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
When this year’s incarnation of the Red Devils 4x800 relay team met their 1984 counterparts last fall as part of the Evanston High School Homecoming festivities, it was difficult for the youngsters to keep their admiration in check.
After all, that 1984 crew — Joe Holtz, Lance Proffit, Stuart Proffit and Rocky Seale — were on hand that late September afternoon for induction into the EHS Hall of Fame for their exploits on the track, including the then-school record time of 8:07.60, a mark that stood for four decades.
That is until Saturday morning at the 4A West Regional Meet in Rock Springs, when Red Devils Gideon Stahl, Aidan Conrad, Paul Baxter and Jamar McDowell decided to shave a little time off that record and make it their own.
And they did it with the ‘84 crew’s stamp of approval.
“They [the ‘84 team] started out by asking us to please break the record,” Stahl said of meeting the previous record holders. “They talked about how it was just the perfect day of luck for them, and it needed to be broken. They also said to make sure to tell them [when it happened]. They were just really supportive. I think the only words of advice were, ‘Just go for it.’”
Baxter agreed.
“When we met the record holders, they told us it was time for that record to go down, because records were meant to be broken,” he said.
After just missing the record the week before at the BYU Invitational in Provo, Utah, (.34 of a second!), the Red Devils were running out of opportunities — the regional meet at Rock Springs, followed by the state meet in Casper, and the 2024 season would be in the books. Friday’s opening day of the 4A West Regional Meet featured typical spring weather for Rock Springs — cold, gray and windy, definitely not conducive to breaking records. Saturday, however, the sun came out, the wind died down and temps were in the 60s — perfect running conditions. The 4x800 relay was the first running event on the schedule that morning, and with all four runners fresh, the record was theirs for the taking, though taking a shot at it wasn’t in the original plan.
“We were on our warm-up, and we decided that we were going to try for [the record] at state, where there’s more competition and a better track and conditions,” Conrad explained. “I didn’t notice we were on pace for the record until Paul passed it off to Jamar.”
Stahl was first out of the gate, followed by Conrad and Baxter. All three ran splits right around the 2:01 mark, with McDowell ready to go in the anchor position.
“When I took that last hand off, my only thought was to make sure we win,” McDowell said. “Before running we told ourselves we’d wait till state to go for it, but Paul had an amazing leg to put us in position, and I just had to carry it through.”
When McDowell crossed the finish line well ahead of Green River for the win, he anxiously turned toward the scoreboard to check the times. After a beat, the final time flashed.
8:06.56.
“I didn’t realize we’d done it for a few moments, but realizing all the hard work and terrible workouts paid off was amazing,” he said. “For me, the best part was seeing the look on Coach Conrad’s face, I’ll never forget how proud he looked.”
It was bedlam after that, with McDowell making his way to the infield to celebrate with his teammates and coach, Nate Conrad. All four of the 4x800 runners won a state championship in cross country under coach Conrad last fall, so the record was icing on the cake of a brilliant year.
“It’s amazing — this is something I’m gonna be able to look back on and share with my kids in the future,” Stahl said. “As far as the four of us, it’s awesome. We start out the year with a state championship in cross, and end it with a school record and a chance to take state in the 4x800. And for Jamar and me especially, we’ve been running together since we were freshmen, so it’s a great way to end an extraordinary journey.”
For Conrad and McDowell, the quest for the record began last year, with then-seniors Derek Parks and Braezden Mecham. That team came close, but came up short; with Parks and Mecham lost to graduation, two new runners were needed to fill the void.
“I think the record has always been chased after, and I was able to join that chase last year with my teammates Derek, Braezden and Jamar,” said Conrad, now a junior. “Seeing two of them leave was sad, and I was a little nervous that we might not get it, but Paul and Gideon were the right people to fill their shoes. We couldn’t have done it without them. I’m super-grateful for those boys that have been at practice with us and came before because we couldn’t have done it without them.”
Coach Conrad said the boys had planned on the BYU meet as the one that gave them the best chance at breaking the record; when that didn’t happen, the pressure began to mount.
“It was just a joy to watch these boys do it,” coach Conrad said. “The pressure to go for the record had kind of been building, and I tried to take it off them by cracking a joke, just to get them loose. I also told them to not worry about the record today — let’s go out and do what we need to do to get first place, and we’ll go from there. We still have another week to do it. I didn’t even have it in my head that they were going for it.”
After celebrating with his teammates, Aidan Conrad found Nate and launched himself into his dad’s arms, much like he had after winning state in cross country last fall.
“It was a pretty cool moment,” coach Conrad said. “And while I was celebrating with the boys, my thoughts went back to all of the other boys I’ve coached through the years — we’ve had some phenomenal runners here in Evanston, and this doesn’t happen without them. They helped me become a better coach, and we wouldn’t be where we’re at without the guys that came before.”
As time began to wind down in the season, were the boys starting to get concerned that the record might stay just outside their grasp?
Well, it depends on whom you ask.
“After missing it last week by .34 seconds, the thought of ‘What if?’ was definitely on our minds,” McDowell said. “But confidence is key.”
“After BYU, we knew we could get it, so we weren’t worried,” Stahl countered. “Heck, we made the conscious decision to not make an all-out effort to get the record this weekend, it just kinda happened.”
“After missing it at BYU, we figured we had one more shot to get the record at state because regionals in Rock Springs was probably going to be windy and cold,” Baxter said. “We didn’t think it was going to happen there [Rock Springs]. Personally, I was very nervous that it was basically all or nothing at state.”
Thankfully, things have a way of working out. There’s still work to be done — the 4A State Track and Field Championships begin Thursday in Casper, and the team has its sights set on a state championship.
That said, Stahl, Conrad, Baxter and McDowell have earned the right to enjoy the moment.
“I’m super excited that I get to hold a record that has been stuck for 40 years at the high school, and I’m sure I share that with my teammates, as well,” Baxter said. “As a team, we are grateful that our hard work has paid off.”
