The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Freshman phenom soaring for Comets
Prior to Amherst’s cross country practice on Sept. 15in Vermilion, Ty Perez’s competitive edge was on display.
Prior to Amherst’s cross country practice on Sept. 15 at Mill Hollow in Vermilion, Ty Perez’s competitive edge was on display.
But not in the way you might think.
Instead of it being on display at Mill Hollow’s winding dirt trails, it was on a Spikeball net inside a pavilion at the base of the park.
For a majority of the time before the Comets’ practice, Perez played against fellow freshmen Luke Bowlsby, Henry Isaacs and Joe Miller, where they each took turns trying to send the round, yellow Spikeball into the Earth’s core. At one point, Bowlsby hit a spike that bounced off the side of the Spikeball trampoline and spun off like a knuckleball — the type of bounce that usually gets you a point.
But Perez didn’t let that happen, as he shuffled to his right and lunged at the ball, sending it back off the trampoline the other way, where it bounced off the pavement. After Perez won the point, he jokingly shoved Bowlsby before getting set up again, eager for another opportunity to win.
Perez’s domination hasn’t been limited to the Spikeball mat, as the freshman phenom has won all four races he’s competed in this year. He’s made sure to break a couple records along the way for good measure.
“It feels great to be having the success I’m having,” Perez said. “It just shows you that hard work pays off after I spent the summer working with my coaches and team. It’s been great.”
Perez burst onto the area cross country season on Aug. 24 at the Keystone Ice Breaker, where he finished with a time of 16:41.8. Not only was it good enough for first place, but it also broke Amherst’s previous freshman record of 16:43 which was set by Miles Pittak in 2007.
Prior to the race, Perez, while confident in his ability to finish among the top runners, didn’t think he’d win. But then the pack broke through the first turn and he was in first place. Then it was the first mile. Then the second mile. And before he knew it, he was crossing the finish line with Avon’s Jett Wieber a distant 16 seconds behind him in second place.
“That was kind of an emotional race because we weren’t sure if it was going to happen and he still went out and executed perfectly,” Amherst coach Rob Glatz said.
“(Assistant coach) Eric Watts had the one-mile and I was out there by the two-mile. I saw him at the beginning but wasn’t able to see him again until about 10 minutes into the race and I was so happy with how far out he was.”
And that was only the beginning for Perez. Less than a week after breaking the Comets’ freshman record, Perez celebrated his 15th birthday on Aug. 29 by finishing in first with a time of 17:02 at a tri-meet between Amherst, Avon and Avon Lake. After he crossed the finish line, Perez was mobbed by his teammates, most of whom were singing ‘Happy Birthday’ at the top of their lungs. From there, he finished first at the Lake Erie Challenge (16:16 — his current PR) and another trimeet. (16:52).
“I didn’t expect to go out and win the race. I thought there were some kids there who’d be faster than me,” Perez said of the Ice Breaker. “I just kept going through the race and plugging away and ended up winning.”
Glatz’s first true look at Perez’s desire to be great last winter when he, along with the Comets’ cross country team, went to go see Perez play on the middle school basketball team. It was there Glatz got to see Perez’s poise and competitiveness up close.
After the spring’s track and field season was canceled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Perez and Bowlsby reached out to Glatz to ask for workouts they could do. For the rest of the spring and summer, the duo ran through workouts and sent Glatz the results using the Garmin GPS watches they wore while running.
“I couldn’t have contact with them in the beginning. But they had their watches, so I could see the paces they were running and see how they felt and build from there,” Glatz said. “The technology is pretty amazing. We use this app called Strava where the kids can track their runs and we can share it and it’s really built a lot of accountability in our program. I think Luke and Ty use their GPS watches a lot and that helped them keep their steady paces throughout the summer.”
Through that watch technology, Glatz and Perez are able to track his workouts and compare them to the times of other runners from Amherst’s past. Most of the time, Perez is racing virtually against former Amherst runner Josh Hill who finished third in the state in 2017 with a time of 15:47.5.
The time-tracking technology also helps them at in-person practices too, as it allows Glatz to monitor Perez’s splits in real time.
“Earlier this week we did five miles of hills continuously and I kept the splits for him every 700 meters and said, ‘We needed to be working on the end of this workout since that’s what you’ll need in your races,’ and he executed perfectly,” Glatz said. “He went out fast and leveled off and then his best efforts were at the end. That’s what we said we wanted, and he emulated it. Usually freshmen are coming out and are having a hard time with pace recognition, but that’s not the case with him and the other freshmen.”
Perez isn’t done wanting to break records. While his current goal is to clear 16 minutes, his long-term goal is to break the Amherst school record of 15:35.
“This year by the end of the season I’d like to be in the 15’s,” Perez said. “I can see myself in the future breaking that Amherst record and going on to break other records as well.”
Next up for Perez and the Comets is the Boardman Invitational on Sept. 19 — one of the state’s toughest races. Perez is ready for the challenge.
“I think it’s good that we’re going to be getting some good competition this weekend at Boardman, which I’m really excited for,” he said. “I’m ready for the challenge, I’m not intimated at all.”
Once 3 p.m. rolled around on Sept. 15 — the start time of the Comets’ practice — Perez and his teammates went through a series of warm-up stretches and exercises before going on a warm-up jog around the bottom of Mill Hollow. About five minutes later, Perez and Bowlsby came in first with no one else in sight.
“Usually the freshmen are behind and the seniors are leading but now we have the freshmen up in front,” Glatz said as his two freshmen finished their warm-up jog behind him. “Their competitive spirit has spread throughout our team, and it’s evident in our race style because when Ty and Luke go out hard they pull the rest of the team with them and it gives them the confidence to race better.
“They’re very hard workers, super competitive and outrageously coachable.”