The Stateliner senior capped a terrific year with a seventh-place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Sometimes sports aren’t all about the destination, but rather the journey.
That’s certainly the case for Phillipsburg senior hurdler John Martin.
Martin finished his Stateliner career at Saturday’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington High School by earning a medal in the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.74 seconds. He ran even faster, 14.52, in the preliminaries to make the final.
Any medal in the best track meet of the season is to be prized. And in Martin’s case, perhaps even more so.
That’s because Martin finished 20th at the Group 4 meet as a junior. He wasn’t anywhere near the medal stand at the group meet, much less the Meet of Champions.
Martin passed a lot of competitors who were better than him last year on his journey to his Meet of Champions. Quite a journey, too.
And it sprang from a decision Martin made after last year’s group meet.
“I told myself it was time to get to work,” he said. “It was time to push my body if I wanted to be competitive with all of these amazing athletes.”
Martin picked a tough time to be a hurdler in New Jersey, with elite types such as Cory Poole of East Orange Campus around; he won Saturday’s race in 14.04 seconds (he also won the 400 hurdles, was third in the open 400 and anchored the champion 1,600 relay in a blazing 3:12.89) and his teammate Akeem Lindo too. Martin faced them in sectionals, groups and the Meet of Champions and said running against the kind of competition made him tougher and better.
How much better? Martin was running 15.18 at the end of 2016. Now, his best stands at 14.46. In a short race, dropping that much time in a year is unusual.
“My goal at the beginning of the year was just to make the Meet of Champions,” Martin said. “I am really proud of how far I have come. What I’ll remember the most from running track at Phillipsburg is how far I have progressed in my four years. I am thankful for my coaches that really pushed me to best I can be.”
Even in the final week, Martin never stopped working to improve. He said what makes a great race for him is his rhythm over the hurdles and his quickness in between the hurdles, both of which he has made major advances in with over the last year with a work ethic so strong it leaves his coaches almost speechless in admiration when asked how hard Martin works.
“I’ll run 3-4 hurdles at a time at my fastest speed in practice, and I put as much effort into the practices as I do into the races,” he said. “A lot of the time in practice I will spend a lot of time going over tiny hurdles, six inches tall, and they really help.”
Big strides over small hurdles for John Martin – and he’s not done yet. He’ll attend SUNY-Cortland where he’ll continue to strive for excellence in the hurdles – and perhaps more.
“They may make me a multi-event athlete, the decathlon,” Martin said.
Martin has the classic decathlete body – lanky, powerful and tall. He’d be formidable in many of the events, perhaps especially high jump, long jump, pole vault, javelin and the 400 dash. And with his work ethic, he'd be in strong position to master the others.
That would be a fascinating next step on John Martin’s journey – after a fulfilling stop at the Meet of Champions to earn a medal.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.