CROTHERSVILLE — When Josh Reynolds gets set to run the 100-meter dash, he focuses on a hard and fast start off of the blocks.
Then it’s all about building up speed pretty quick in hopes of being the first one across the finish line.
In only his second year of middle school track and field for Crothersville, the 14-year-old eighth-grader has won a lot of races this spring running the 100- and 200-meter dashes and 4×1 and 4×2 relays.
He has been consistent in the 100, posting a season-best 11.84 seconds in a meet at Seymour Middle School.
His times were entered in the MileSplit Indiana website, and his consistency in the 100 resulted in him being selected to compete in the Indiana Middle School State Track and Field Championship, which is set for Saturday at Indiana State University’s Gibson Track and Field Complex in Terre Haute.
He will be among 36 competitors in that event, which is split into four heats of nine runners. He’s in the fourth heat with a time of 11.91. That time is listed because it was recorded during a meet with electronic timing. The one in Seymour was done with stopwatches.
“I’m looking forward to bringing home the win. I’m there to win right now,” Reynolds said. “I’m really hoping I can make a name right now for the school. I want Crothersville to be seen.”
For his father, Ryan Reynolds, it’s bittersweet. Having run the same events when he was in high school, Ryan now sees his son going faster than him, and he’s only in eighth grade.
“At his age, he is faster than what I was as a senior, and I was quick. I know I was. Everybody says I was quick, but he’s faster and an eighth-grader,” said Ryan, a 2000 graduate of Crothersville High School. “There are times I’ve gotten choked up over this. It’s always a dream just to watch him run.”
During practice at the school’s track Monday night, Ryan said his son came off of the blocks so smooth. That’s good going into his final middle school track meet.
“I think the most exciting part is just him going,” Ryan said. “I don’t care if he wins. I don’t care if he loses. This is a big experience for an eighth-grader that a lot of eighth-graders don’t get to have. His competitive drive that he has, I’d like to see him do really well, but then again, I don’t care if he does good. I’m just glad he’s there. He worked to make it, and he made it.”
Josh also plays basketball for Crothersville and is involved in baseball outside of school. It wasn’t until his seventh grade year that he decided to give track a try.
“I feel inspired by my dad and my classmates that asked me to do it,” he said. “I guess I’m just naturally fast from my genetics.”
Last year, he admits, was pretty rough since he was a rookie. Still, he helped the Tigers place second in the Southern Athletic Conference meet.
This year, his dedication paid off, and he won both of his individual events and relays and again helped guide the team to a runner-up finish. The Tigers only lost to Borden by eight points, and that’s because that school earned points in pole vault, an event Crothersville doesn’t do.
Ryan said the difference for his son in his individual events this year was a better understanding of the blocks and how to get off of them smoothly.
“But I think what’s really got me shocked is he has gained almost a second faster with literally doing nothing in a year’s time,” Ryan said of Josh’s 100 time. “He has not really hit a growth spurt, either. He’s just growing real slow. … I hope he continuously grows slow so his body has that time to adjust and it’s not hard on him and he can maintain.”
Even more impressive, Josh isn’t far off of the Crothersville High School record in that event. That time is 11.16, set by Noah Hoskins in 2016. Hoskins is the middle school girls track and field coach.
Josh said he’s surprised how fast he has adapted to track.
“In one meet in a few days and another meet, I cut off a little more than a whole second in the 100. I find that insane,” he said.
Whether it’s the sled training or what he ate before each meet, Josh isn’t sure what the secret to his success is. He just hopes it continues.
He expects Saturday’s meet to help him as he moves up to high school next year.
“Track right now is my main priority,” Josh said.