James Clemens Track Athletes Among Best In The Country: Dylan Dryer And Luke Alverson Shine On National Level
Dylan Dryer, a sophomore at James Clemens High, stood tall against all of his competition by winning the 800-meter run at the Adidas National Championships held in Virginia Beach, Va. He crossed the finish line at 1-minute, 56.95-seconds in a race that came down to a will to win.
“I came down here to win. I’m confident after competing with all of this talent that I can compete with runners back home,” said Dryer in a post-race interview.
As an athlete, Dryer has the near perfect body for a sprinter. He’s 6-foot tall and weighs just over 155 pounds. His muscles are lean and long and shows sculpting similar to those Olympic athletes that have stood tall on the medal podium. While making his way to seventh grade at Liberty Middle School, Dryer was running in the 1600-meter race where he soon became No. 1 ranked in the U.S. and his elite athleticism became widely known. His laced up running shoes have taken him to even newer heights as a member of the high school ranks.
At the national event held at the Virginia Beach Sports Center, the first half of the race went back and forth in the leads among Dryer and two competitors. In the second 400, Dryer took what looked as though he had control. He said, “I was making sure I kept my pace and control my breathing as I felt good. I wanted to make sure I had enough energy to kick in the last lap.”
Down the final 100 meters, Dryer kicked into “high gear” and came across the finish line less than one second ahead of the second and third place finishers who are older than the 16-year old Dryer. The silver medal went to Jaden Rahman, a senior, who posted a time of 1:57.67 while a junior Jackson Neppl was third at 1:57.74.
His natural abilities as a sprinter were evident as far back as Dryer can remember. He would always play tag on the playground at school and his fellow students never wanted him chosen to lead the outing as he was always fast. Matter of fact, he was known as the fastest in his school.
Meanwhile, Dryer’s teammate Luke Alverson earned All-American status after his fantastic efforts at the Nike National Indoor Track Scholastic Championships held in Staten Island, N.Y. He posted a time of 4:35.63 in the mile for freshmen to finish third and earn a bronze medal. His finish time was a personal best by 10 seconds. Owen Larson of New York finished with the gold medal performance of 4:33.91 while Andrew Burr of Sacramento, Cal. was second at 4:35.38.
“I got out front for the first couple of laps and then sat with others for several laps and as we reached the final lap a couple guys just out kicked me to the finish line,” said Alverson, who has been running since joining the running club at Heritage Elementary School.
During the recent cross country season the 5-foot-11, 135-pound athlete suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and was out of running for six weeks. Soon afterwards, he entered a meet in Birmingham with one last chance to qualify for the nationals. An extra effort gave him the time needed to make the trip to New York with his parents Marty and Sally Alverson.
“I came back from the injury and that’s what the best from the trip,” added Alverson, who has visited all 50 states in his travels with his family.
