Seckman Track, Fisher Have Reason For Excitement

Seckman High School’s boys track and field team competed in the Suburban South Conference Relays event at Kirkwood on Thursday, and enjoyed a successful meet, finishing second overall to the host Pioneers.

Seckman coach Alan Farmer said his sprint medley team, shot, and discus competitors were among the people to watch during the competition. The meet’s results proved this to be true.

The Jaguars’ 1600-meter sprint medley team finished second overall to Parkway Central, with seniors Brett Harris and Tyler Fisher, along with junior Sean Thomas, and sophomore Nate Alden pulling off a close finish just ahead of the Kirkwood team.

Alden was neck-and-neck with Kirkwood’s James Willis, and was able to lean forward to secure the second-place finish by a body length.

“I was pumped. I beat my previous record (2:07) by four seconds; it was a great finish,” Alden said.

Fisher, who has starred for the Jaguars’ football squad, and is coming back from five concussions that had left him with dizzy spells, said he felt good after running in the medley, and believes his return to form is on pace.

“The first step was to get cleared by my doctor, and now I’m back on the track team to improve my fitness and get involved in competition again, and it’s one step at a time for me,” said Fisher.

The Seckman running back is most likely headed to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in the fall, and he’s in regular contact with the coaching and training team there to gauge and monitor his progress.

“We email back and forth quite a bit. I’m getting close with the coaches … football is my life and I’m just kind of getting myself back to full speed, working out like crazy and getting to the point where I can go full-speed,” said Fisher.

Explaining that his aim is to be at maximum strength by mid-April, the Seckman track star, who won the 2010 state title in the 200m dash, showed no signs of distress during the medley competition.

As predicted, the Jaguars also saw success in the shot put event, where senior Kyle Eaves took first place with a throw of 46 feet, 11.5 inches.

Eaves also took third place in the discus event, with a 116-foot throw.

The pole vault provided a surprise first-place finish for Seckman, as senior Austin Silva posted an 11 foot result to top the list of competitors.

With a strong finish at this first major meet of the year, and an improving Fisher contributing, the Jaguars have good reason to be excited about the remainder of the track and field season.

Farmer explained that Fisher is a late bloomer, traditionally, and he expects the sprinter to peak in late April.

“We’ll see how Tyler runs, but I would not be surprised to see him come on strong later in the season. He was taking several third-place finishes early last season, and then toward the end of April he was popping up with some stronger numbers,” said Farmer.

Seckman will travel to Festus for the Tiger Town varsity meet on April 5, and then will participate in the Oakville relays on April 15. Conference competition takes place at Parkway Central on May 5-6.