3-time state 800 champ goes the distance
Kingwood runner Myles Marshall rules the middle distance. The Harvard signee won a gold medal in the 800-meter run at the Youth Olympics in China last summer and claimed his third consecutive UIL state championship in the 800 in May, giving him five state medals in his high school career.
Q: What do you love about running track?
A: It’s more like a family thing. Both my parents ran track. My dad (John Marshall) was a college coach (at Seton Hall) when we used to live in New Jersey, and so I’ve just always been around track.
Q: What is it about that 800-meter distance that suits you so well?
A: It’s middle distance. It’s a long sprint. Both my parents ran the 800. My dad’s really good at it. So it’s something I really like. It’s the perfect distance for me. It’s not too long, it’s not too short, but it’s really fun. I’d say it’s one of the hardest races not a lot of people do, so I like the difficulty with it as well.
Q: What does it mean to you to be a three-time state champion in the 800?
A: You try to run your best every year. Once I won sophomore year, it was kind of a surprise for me. It was an even harder one than last year, and then this year was also a good year, so it means a lot. There are a lot of good people out there. Texas is one of the fastest states, track-wise, so it’s great to always face good competition.
Q: You also claimed your second gold medal as part of Kingwood’s 1,600 relay this year. How does that compare to winning the 800?
A: It’s a lot different. It’s a whole different mindset. You have to worry about not only yourself but the other three people on the team and how they’re doing and how they’re feeling that day. I was second leg, so once I handed off to the third leg it was totally out of my hands. All you can do is watch. You become like a spectator at that point, and you have to trust that your teammates are ready and you gave it all you had for your leg.
Q: Where does helping Kingwood win the Class 5A team championship last year rank for you?
A: That was awesome. I wasn’t expecting it for most of that night, so to come out with that, and come out on top as a team, is something that really means a lot. Kingwood’s been really good at cross country, back in the (1990s and) early 2000s, with the national championships, so to come back down on the track side and win a state championship means a lot.
Q: How much are you looking forward to running in college?
A: It’s definitely a change, but with change comes great opportunity to run well and run better, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be in Boston next year, so it’s definitely a change. Everything’s changing for me next year. But hopefully it’s a change for the best and I can become better as an athlete and as a person.