By Michael Mandeville ’11
THE ROUNDUP

Since the fith grade, Brophy star runner Will Firth ’11 has been competing in some way or another.

He said he only began running cross country to train for his primary sport, tennis, but after winning a few races his eighth-grade year, he began to take it more seriously.

“It wasn’t until my freshman year in high school that I ran cross country,” Firth said, “I really blossomed and I started running really well and became a part of the varsity cross country team.”

Firth remembered his first attempt at running when he and a friend tried to run a three-mile path.

“By the end of the year we weren’t going to walk at all, we were going to be able to run the whole thing, and sure enough we did by the end of that year,” Firth said.

Cross country coach Mr. Ted Skowron said Firth has been steadily improving.

“Will established himself freshman year as a ‘standout’ on the distance track team, and he has continued to find success over the years,” he said.

Firth currently runs the 4X800, the 800, the 1600 and the 3200 as well as cross country in the fall. His motivation as a runner in part comes from Brophy track legends Alex Mason ’05 and Charles Hampton ’04.

“Our coach constantly talks about them and compares us to them so I’m always striving to beat their times and records,” Firth said.

Firth has already broken Mason’s freshman 3200-record as well as three other records. Among those record times are a four minutes and thirty-five seconds freshman 1600 and a 9:57 freshman 3200. His current personal best times are a 4:22 in the 1600 and a 9:42 in the 3200.

He is currently hoping to run in college, but is not sure how he will continue to compete after that.