Quartermile no problem for PC's Winchester
In track circles, the quarter mile or 400-meter run is considered one of the most difficult running events. Too short to jog and too long to sprint, it’s an event that can make even the best athletes crumble.
Parkers Chapel’s Brendan Winchester seems to have mastered it. The reigning 2A state champion, is unbeaten in the 400 so far this season. The last time he lost was in last year’s Meet of Champions, where he finished third.
“Coach Johnny Richardson over at Crossett said, years ago when I was working over there, ‘This is a man’s race, right here.’ I think the 400 is about, jus how bad do you want it,” said Parkers Chapel coach Steven
Bates. “I’ve been coaching a long time, about
18 years and I have not met a kid that wants it more than he does.
He refuses to lose. He’s figured out how to run that race. He paces himself. It amazes me every track meet we go to, when they turn that corner on that home stretch, he’s got more left in his tank than anybody out there.
“He understands how to run that race. He’s convinced that he’s good at it. He’s going to go out there and prove it every time.”
At 5-foot-10, Winchester doesn’t have the long legs, normally associated with a great quarter miler. For him, it’s all in the mind.
“It’s only around 50 seconds. That’s all. Worst day is 54 seconds. It’s not too short but it’s not too long,” he said. “That’s what gets a lot of people. They can’t figure out how to gauge their speed around the curve.”
Winchester is 4-0 in meets this season, including the Oil Belt Relays, which included track and field heavyweights Texarkana, Camden Fairview, Magnolia and Crossett. His best time this season, so far, has been a 51.08. He believes he’s on schedule to eclipse his personal record of 50.28, set last year.
“This year’s goal is to go all the way win the Meet of Champs. I’m shooting for the state record,” he said.
A safety, receiver and running back in football, Winchester already has an offer to run track at Lyon College. Pretty good for the former Norphlet Leopard, who didn’t start track until his freshman year.
“When I transferred from Norphlet, Coach Bates said he wanted to try me in the 400. I just was a natural at it,”
Winchester said.
“When he was in ninth grade, he was one of the first junior high kids I’ve ever had that went sub-one minute,” said Bates. “We kind of talked about how, if you want to focus on this I think it could be something you’re really good at. I just kept watching his time get faster and faster and faster. All of a sudden last year, he went from the 55 range down to the 52s and then the 51s and then to 50. We felt like he had a chance to do something special here and that’s exactly what he did.”
Being good at it and ranking among the best 400meter runners in the state are two different things. Winchester realized he could run with the state’s elite last year.
“Last year was probably when I figured out I had just as good a chance as anybody,” he said. “It was the Panther Relays last year in Magnolia. I finally beat one of the Texarkana boys. I would come close to them but I could never beat them. It just pushed me to get better.
“I did my research on the rest of the times in the state to see where I would stack up.”
Still, the question remains - what makes Winchester so good at one of the most difficult events?
“When I was in junior high football, the football coach walked in one day and asked us how many of us liked to win. Everyone in the room raised their
hand. And then, he asked, ‘how many of ya’ll hate to lose because everyone likes to win?’ Only two people in the room raised their hand. He said that’s the kind of players I want ya’ll to be. I want you to be players that hate to lose. That just kind of stuck with me,” said Winchester. “I refuse to admit that somebody is better than me. And, I’m going to give it all I’ve got to make sure I win.”
In other words, the 400 is as much mental as it is physical.
“It’s more mental,” he said. “I run with the competition wherever I’m at. Some of the college analysts in football talk about which players have the most fight, have the most dog in them. That’s kind of what it is.”
“Brendan is a lot like most really good track kids. Any good track kid I’ve come across is self motivated. Brendan is that way,” said Bates. “He’s self motivated. In track, if you don’t go out there and run some on your own, you’re probably not going to be as good as you can be just because of the limited window we get with them in the spring.”
Winchester doesn’t run the 200. He doesn’t run the 800. For him, the 400 is just right. It’s his race. Quarter milers aren’t made. They’re born.
“Everyone’s got their specialty. They say it’s a harder race than the rest of them. But, it’s just whatever feels comfortable for that person. It does add a little bit of pride that everybody finds that race so difficult, though,” he said. “I mean, it’s hard to run. But, once I figured out the pattern I needed to run it at, it got … well, I’m not going to say easier because it’s not easier … but it just kind of clicked.”