Unlike most students on the track team, senior Brandon Davis won’t be leaving his cleats at home when he heads to college in the fall. Davis will be attending Pepperdine University, a Christian school in southern California, for sports medicine and track. He received an offer to run track there and made his final decision in mid-April. During his junior year, Davis decided he wanted to run track in college. He started track in sixth grade and became attached to the sport.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Running is just fun. It’s something to do. I like the heavy competition because everyone can run, but not everyone is good at it. I know I’ll get faster if there’s a lot more competition.”

Math teacher Mike Messina coaches Davis.

“When you combine his natural talent with his work ethic and competitive nature, it makes him stand out compared to other athletes,” Messina said.

Davis’ running buddy, senior Andrew Dingwall, said that Davis can get very competitive while running.

“In cross country there is a lot of competition between us, but not so much in track because he runs shorter distances than me,” Dingwall said.

Although Davis and Dingwall will be parting ways next year, Dingwall said he will remember when they went to Indiana for an end-of-season trip.

“We take a trip out there for a meet called Nike, and it’s a long van ride out with everyone and that was really fun,” Dingwall said. “It was all the seniors in the front messing around with everyone.”

Davis runs both cross country and track.

“I do the two hundred, four hundred, eight hundred and then four by two relay, four by four relay and four by eight relay,” Davis said. “I have the fastest four hundred and eight hundred during my high school career.”

Davis said he has learned many life lessons as a runner.

“Brandon has developed leadership skills as well,” Messina said. “Besides the improvements on the stopwatch, which are always nice to see, it’s been great to watch Brandon grow as a student athlete. Brandon is a hard worker, and it shows in his results. He is adaptable and very strong, which means I can throw him in nearly any event and he can be successful. That kind of athlete is invaluable to a track team.”

Although Davis is excited to be going to college, he said he is also nervous because he doesn’t know what to expect there. Over his years in track, Davis has made much progress individually and with the team.

“Last year we went to this really big invitational and the year before at it I did really really bad,” Davis said. “I came in like dead last but then last year I ended up winning it, so it was really fun.”
Davis’ friends and coaches believe he is ready for track in college and they are eager to see what the future holds for him.

“Brandon is definitely ready for the competition,” Messina said. “He will work as hard as any other guy on his team, and the results will show it. I think he has a very bright future ahead of him at Pepperdine.”