Wilson relay team makes more history with gold
Zack Gillen, Damian Simpson, Zakai Hendricks and Damon Simpson made a career out of running together.
Running really fast.
Wilson’s school record holders in the 400 relay decided Friday night that they needed to go for a walk.
“We were talking about it,” Hendricks said. “We went out and walked around the campus because we wanted to get tired so we could sleep. We were just so excited.”
They didn’t sleep long. They were the only ones at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium at 7:30 a.m. Saturday practicing their handoffs — five hours before their state final.
They didn’t eat much, either. A yogurt. A protein bar.
Perhaps they should bottle up that formula because it worked. The Warriors set another school and area record by winning PIAA Class 3A gold in 41.49.
“We were sixth last year,” Gillen said. “We knew this is what we wanted.”
“The exclamation point,” Hendricks added.
Wilson’s four seniors reset school records the last three times they ran together — the District 11 final, Friday’s preliminaries and Saturday’s state final.
It didn’t come easy. Downingtown West led for much of the race, but shortly after Damon Simpson took the baton from Hendricks in the final exchange the race was over.
Simpson finished off District11 s first 400 relay boys state gold-medal winning performance since Nazareth in 2016.
“After the feeling we had last year,” Gillen said, “this was a great way to finish it.”
After walking Friday night, practicing Saturday morning and eating next to nothing, the last thing the Warriors needed was a delay.
But a slow start to the second day of competition pushed the 400 relay start time back by more than 20 minutes.
“We just wanted to go,” Gillen said. “We wanted to run right at 12:30. We were warming up and it was 12:50.”
The wait was worth it. The foursome followed the Wilson coaches’ request to run a silly time and bring it home.
Wilson’s four friends posted a time worthy of the stadium wall.
“It won’t be broken for awhile,” Damon Simpson said.
Damon and Damian finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 3A 100 earlier in the day. The Warriors finished fourth in the 3A boys team standings with 27 points.