By Cooper Chadwick
McPherson high school senior Ethan Elder is an athlete that is dedicated to his craft and has shown the results of all his hard work.
Elder runs the 800, 1600 and 3200 for the Bullpups track and field team as well as being a part of the cross country team and swim team at McPherson.
Despite all the different sports that fill up Elder’s time, he still finds a way to be thoroughly prepared for each one.
“My off-season in the winter actually isn’t an offseason because I am training for swimming. I did a lot of sprint swimming this winter which helped strengthen my quads and build some more explosiveness so that my turnover has already improved this year,” Elder said.
Last year Elder placed seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:00 and his team got eighth in the 4×800. Elder is already improving on his times from last year with hopes of being a top runner in the state again.
“I have already beat my 800 time from last year by nearly 4 seconds and have also beaten my personal records in all other events by significant margins,” Elder said.
Elder’s work ethic is one of the reasons he has made such a big leap from last season to this season.
“He and his fellow teammates push each other every day to be their very best. From his day to day preparation, to his warm up and cool down, Ethan has incredible attention to detail. He desires to be great as a competitor, and that shows up every meet. We are very proud of him,” head coach John Montgomery said.
