The Joliet Central men’s track team has had a successful 2012 season with a 2nd place finish at the Joliet West Invitation, and a 5th place finish at the Thornridge Blue Smoke Invitational. It is clear that the team has many talented athletes working hard to make their school proud. It is sad to think that the high school years are moving so fast, and after four short years, an athlete must move on from their team. The men’s track team is relatively young, but there are still track veterans coming back every year to do what they do best – run. One of these men is Sam Clinton, distance runner.
Sam has many accomplishments as a runner for Joliet Central, recalling his most memorable experience this year being running 2 miles in under 10 minutes at the Lewis indoor meet. Coach Cherry also remarks that a great moment in Sam’s career was when he won the 3200 at the outdoor Thornridge Invitational. Track events may mostly be a solo sport, but Sam speaks fondly of his teammates. “The team is like a second family to me. A lot of the distance runners graduated already, but I have many friends on the team, and it’s always fun bringing the younger, new kids along. My coach, Doug Cherry, is also really important to me.” The team is very close. “I’ll definitely miss my friends and everyone on team, including my coaches. I’ll also miss competing for Joliet Central.” Sam plans to attend the University of Michigan in the fall, majoring in biology. “I won’t be running for the university, because those guys are fast,” he laughs “but I am definitely going to keep running.”
Coach Doug Cherry said that this year has started a new era of runners. “Last year we had 8 seniors graduate. I felt like the tradition of distance running that we had established as ‘Joliet Township’ went with them – the dedication, commitment and work ethic that it takes to become a good distance runner had to be established with a new generation of runners. 2012 is special because I can see the members of this year’s team starting a new tradition as “Joliet Central” distance runners. The leadership of Sam Clinton has been important and the younger runners are now taking ownership.” 2012 is a proud year for the team, reestablishing that the athletes are strong as Steelmen, and proud.