Sprinting Through The Year

Noah Shelton Sports Reporter

Sprinting Through The Year

Phil Batler, a premier sprinter at South, qualified for Nationals in February. His strong performance at the 28th New England Indoor Track and Field championships was second only to Simeon Okoro of Weston. Batler finished the 300 meter sprint with a time 35.28. Batler makes his performance look natural, but it took a late start and hours of hard work to get to where he is now.

Batler had to start seriously training early on. “The spring of seventh grade I started doing club track with the Waltham Track Club. I had always wanted to try track, but my middle school didn’t have a team,” he said. “My sister actually found the team because one of her best friends was on it. I spent the whole spring and summer running with the team and fell in love with the sport.” Batler’s determination did not go unnoticed this year.

Boys indoor track and field coach and South English teacher Michael Lenzi admires Batler’s ability to tune out any outside distractions. “When Phil gets ready for a race, he has an intensity that you really want to see in an athlete. You see that in him, he will get up to the line the same every time; it could be in a regular DCL meet, it could be in a state championship meet,” Lenzi said. “He is never intimidated. He always rises to the level of the competition.” However, Batler’s determination is not limited to the track, according to Batler’s history teacher, Andrew Thompson. “Phil is most definitely very determined in class; he is very disciplined about staying on top of his work,” Thompson said. He is very thorough in his work, he’ll ask questions and make connections, and He adds good ideas in discussions and works hard.” One of Batler’s friends, junior Brad Weissel, also noticed Batler’s work inside of the classroom. “Phil is extremely academically motivated. I have done group project in the past with him, and he pushes everyone in the group to try their best and do their part in the group,” he said.

Not only does his determination carry over into the classroom, but so does his humor.

“I would love to see people have the same humor [as Batler]” said Thompson. Weissel also enjoys Batler’s presence and humor. “[Batler] is always making me and others laugh, and he has a special way of doing so. He is funny while still being kind and respectful to everyone, something hard to do,” he said. Batler’s humor and determination make him an amiable but strong leader, a combination that is very contagious, according to junior Dan Rosenzweig­Ziff, a friend and teammate of Batler. “[Batler’s] sense of humor is a great thing to have on the team. He can lighten the mood when we have a tough workout,” he said.

Batler’s humor and determination are not the only things that make him special. Batler came out to his friends during freshman year as a member of the LGBT community.

Rosenzweig­Ziff says that this is just another area where Batler shines. “He is very active in the GSA. I think that he hopes to be their president next year. I was one of the first people that he came out to. It was very hard for him in the beginning,” he said. “A lot of people did not

know; he did not really know how to come out. There is a stigma in the locker room. It was very hard for him at first, but it is hard. He has come a long way; he has embraced who he is.

He is not ashamed of who he is at all.”

The stigma about members of the LGBT community seems to be a null factor on the track team, according to Rosenzweig­Ziff. “He talked to the team and the team was very understanding and helpful. There is not a lot of homophobia on the team.” Thompson was also very enthusiastic about Batler’s openness. “He talked to our class about GSA and encouraged people to be involved with the GSA and to be GLAD,” he said.

According to Batler, it is not coming out that has taught Batler the most, it is running.

“I've learned that at the end of the day it's really only your actions that affect your life you know you can have a great team and they can help tremendously, but when you’re doing a workout it’s up to you to push yourself to go faster and get better,” he said. “It's up to you to watch what you eat and when you stretch and how much sleep you get and all that stuff.”

Batler compares running to life, saying that there will always be pain, though from that pain comes gain. “I've also learned that you can't get what you want without a little struggle; you really just have to push through the pain during a workout, during a race the last 50 meters of a 300 are always just awful and hurt so much,” he said. “I feel like there's a life lesson in to keep running even though it hurts because the end result will make it worthwhile.”