Westfield 4X800 Finishes Strong at Nationals

Coach Kelly Deegan and ’s 4X800 boys relay captured every banner and trophy possible this season, . The ‘dream streak’ came to an end this past weekend when Nathan Kiley, Tyrone Walker, Max Chambers, Jeff Edmondson and Steve Mitchell (who alternates with Edmondson at times) came up 0.34 seconds short of a national title in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Still, a second-place finish in the nation is nothing to scoff at, especially with a time of 7:35.10. These young men previously earned a no.1 national-ranking earlier this spring, – a feat Deegan called her “highlight of the season.”

Kiley, who Deegan timed with a split of 1:51.38 during the final, said 2012 has been an amazing year that started this past winter with the indoor track team and his 4X800 relay, which won Nationals. 

“We have not plateaud yet and we knocked off another four seconds off our Penn Relay time and placed second,” said Kiley in a phone interview after the final. “We are done this season, but I am still confident we can knock off another two or three seconds off our time.”

Walker, the relay anchor, just graduated from Westfield. But Kiley, Chambers and Edmondson will all return next year and Kiley said their best is yet to come.

“Our current junior Troy Sevachko has the potential to be a great runner,” Kiley said. “So, we will be training him really hard all summer. We can run faster next year with that group of four guys, than we did just now.”

The 4X800 team never concerned itself with individual splits or who ran the best leg. Instead each man pulled his focus onto the team and improving as a whole, Kiley said. It all started with Deegan who motivated her boys with absolute confidence.

“She always has a whole lot of confidence is in us,” Kiley said. “She never had us a set goal but she would say ‘you can run a little faster.’ I kind of go with the term 'mother knows best' and we always believed what she said.”

Note: Nathan Kiley was named to The 2012 All-Met team earlier this month.