East Coweta's Lamar Weeden clocked personal bests in his final high school season of 1:55 in the 800 and 4:26 in the 1600. One of his highlight performances was winning a regional title in the 800 at the 7A Region 2 Meet. He showed off his improve range with a 4:26 1600 performance at the Georgia Meet of Champions in the post-season.
Name: Lamar Weeden
School: East Coweta High School
What was your most memorable race/throw/jump/vault/moment?
My most memorable race was when I raced Tyler barber (Mountain View HS) and DaMonte' Ward (Archer HS) in the 800m at 2016 6A sectionals at Mill Creek HS, it was very memorable because that's was the fastest 800m I ran all that year after coming off a foot injury 2 week before the meet.
Who would you consider your biggest competition over your four years?
My biggest competition was Geoffrey McCullough who graduated from Campbell HS last year and now attend Hampton University. He was an overall phenomenal distance runner and I wanted to beat him every time we raced mostly because I was a fan of his.
What was your greatest accomplishment?
My greatest accomplishment was being a great mentor towards my younger teammates like freshman Kyle Harkabus who won the 1600m at state and Isaac Jones, Jacob Smith, Braden Ray Etc... I can guarantee those guys will be great distance runners as they get older, they train very hard each and everyday and one day it'll pay out.
If you could do it all over again what would you change about your running career in high school?
If I could change anything about my running career I would have started off with a better freshman and sophomore year I feel like I could've trained way harder I remember having a great 8th year leading on until my 9th grade year but my lack of experience is probably what got to me.
What were the most difficult obstacles you had to overcome?
The most difficult obstacles that I had to overcome was probably my sophomore year when I kept losing, at times I just wanted to give up on running track because I felt like I was getting nowhere. I remembered I used to be the kid everyone used to talk about in middle school for being undefeated in the 1600m and 800m just wanted that feeling back.
What will you miss the most?
I'll miss my younger teammates a lot especially Kyle because he was a fantastic training partner I'll also miss my cross country Coach, Coach Buckalew was an amazing Coach and a person.
What advice would you give to younger athletes?
The advice that I would give to younger athletes is to work really hard now while you can stay focused academically and athletically train harder than your competition stay humble and support everyone that's on your team and most definitely make sure you're in love with the sport and keep never ending goals.
What influence has your coach had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?
I feel like my cross country coach, Coach Buckalew had much respect for me especially on the track and off the track he supported everything I did even though he wasn't my track coach without him I don't know what type of track seasons I would've had.
What are your college plans?
I'll be attending Northwest Kansas Tech for 2 years then hopefully I can go to Georgia Tech afterwards.