CLARE - The Clare boys track and field team has had some serious success in recent history, they’ve won the team state championship in division three, seven years in a row. A big portion of the success was due to the senior class and one particular senior, Bradley White has a lot of the records for long distance at the school. He holds the record in the 800 Meters, the 1600 (mile), the 5K, and he was also a member of the 4X400 relay team that holds the school record.
White also won the 800 Meter race at the state championships earlier in June, a moment that he won’t forget anytime soon.
“It was really hard to process as soon as I crossed. I was super excited, but it really didn’t sink in till I got home, and I was in bed and I was like, oh wow.” Said White. “Like I, I really did that, I would say for like about two days, I was just so happy cause I worked so hard to get there and it finally happened.”
The team’s coach Adam Burhans had some big shoes to fill when he took over for a hall of fame coach 20 years ago, but with seven straight state titles you could say he’s lived up to expectations.
“We have a long-standing tradition in Clare, that everybody matters track and field is as wonderful as it is. I mean, there’s 17 different spotlights and 17 different events at the same time. It does get a bad rap as an individual sport. And you’ll notice that with the Summer Olympics.” Said Burhans. “But an entire country or an entire team is represented. So, we coach from the top to the bottom.”
Burhans also talked about how important Bradley was to the team and the program at Clare
“I’ve only had the opportunity to say this about a handful of athletes in the past, but he’s a once in a generation athlete. They only come along once so many years and I’ve had the honor of being able to coach him for about six years now and his relentless dedication to becoming the best that he can possibly be has just been fun to watch.” Said Burhans.
White will run at Northwood University next year.