Fresh on the heels of leading the Coram Deo track team to its first ever individual state championship, coach Daryl Simon is at it again.
Serving also as a coach with the Westside Baptist track club, Simon took his 4x100 relay team, comprised of 13 and 14-year-olds from Lantana, Lewisville and the Flower Mound area, to the USA Youth National Meet. The team finished fourth overall in the nation.
"Teams from all over the country have to meet qualifying marks to make it into the meet," said Simon, whose Westside club runners competed in the national event June 24-29 in Charlotte, N.C. "I think there were 2,000 kids that ran in the events."
The six-day competition accepted competitors from ages nine to 18 years old.
D.J. Simon of Downing Middle School in Flower Mound, Trevon Caudle of Lewisville High School, Malik Summers of Huffines Middle School (Lewisville), and Denton Guyer High School student Joshua Harris of Lantana made up the Westside Baptist 4x100 team that finished fourth at nationals.
The relay team ran the 4x100 in a time of 46.03 seconds.
"This is the first ever for any school in Denton County," Simon said. "There were some teams from Houston. ... But otherwise, it was a lot of teams from California, Arizona and Florida. They were from all over the country."
While coaching at Coram Deo in the spring, Simon had one of his runners, Jack O’Brien, win a state championship in the 800 meters, the school’s first-ever gold medal at the TAPPS track and field state meet.
Simon said the fourth-place finish at nationals is a very special accomplishment for his club team. The feat is a huge boost for the runners’ self-esteem.
"This gives them confidence because they know they can compete against other kids at a much higher level," Simon said. "This is basically the highest level of track. The kids they competed against were nationally-ranked. It gives them the chance to run against those kids and say, 'Hey, I’m not too bad.’"
Simon said that as a high school coach, he is aware that there is a possibility of injury when running over the summer. However, he said that the benefits of summer competition far outweighs those concerns.
"It is positive, because when you run at school, you may have one or two elite runners," Simon said. "If you run in the summer, you can team those guys up and you can really push yourself within practice and see what it takes to be the best."