By Christopher Tremblay
Staff Sports Writer

Rowan O’Brien had taken up soccer at a very young age and thought that this was going to be his sport growing up, but after finding track, things changed for the better.

Instead of kicking a ball around the field, he decided that kicking it into high gear and running past other runners was now his go-to sport.

“It was in sixth grade when I felt that I needed to get in condition for soccer and figured that running track would help me out on the field,” O’Brien said. “Running definitely helped my soccer game; I was originally the slowest on the team and had the worst stamina of anyone, but track changed all that for the better.”

Track made such an impression on the young athlete that by the time he concluded his freshman soccer season with Holliston he knew that it was time to kick the sport to the curb. 

Soccer on the high school level was not what he was used to and was a hard decision to give it up after having played it for 10 plus years, but track Coach Aaron Ladd made the full transition easy and comfortable for the freshman.

 “Running high school track was a big commitment, but one that I was willing to take on,” O’Brien said. “In high school I was running six days a week and focusing only on that one sport. One of the biggest differences was we had never tracked our mileage in middle school, and I started running 20 miles a week when I first started high school and I’m up to 35 now, with a peak of 50 in the summer.”

Having discarded soccer in the fall, O’Brien joined the cross-country team. Once again Coach Ladd was a big proponent of getting him to take on the sport. O’Brien noted that the coach was a huge part of him running cross country, but he also had teammates who were encouraging him to run.

“My track teammates that also ran cross country kept asking me to join, telling me to join and that I’d be a valuable piece, the last piece that they needed to be successful,” O’Brien said. “Although I was only the seventh runner, joining cross-country was the right choice and I am happy with my decision.”

During his first season running cross-country for the Panthers the team didn’t accomplish what they had set out to do but did find themselves in a better position with O’Brien. The following season Holliston was the Division 2B runner-up; the highest the team has ever finished. O’Brien also broke the Holliston home course record with a time of 17:08 running the 5k.

“That race was different as I didn’t know my time as I had stopped wearing my watch during meets because if I had noticed I was running slower it started to affect me and not in a good way,” he said. “I was grouped with four Westwood runners and saw myself falling behind at the 2-mile marker. With about ¾ of a mile to go I started out kicking them one by one and eventually won the race.”

Although he was able to cross the finish line before anyone else, he had no idea that he had just set the course record. He knew that he had just put forth one of his best races on the course, but without his watch he didn’t know what his time was, and no one was telling him what it was. Finally, they realized O’Brien’s time was record breaking and the course now belonged to him. O’Brien also is part of the 4x800 relay team that owns the school record of 8:34.32.

“Rowan is super invested in the sport,” Ladd said. “As a freshman he was a little tiny kid, but it has been fun to watch him grow over the last four years. He’s bigger and faster - originally, he was a fair runner, but nothing to write home about, but he has truly turned into a runner.”

Coming into the spring track season, where he will run the 800 and mile, he is looking to lower both of those times. Currently running the mile at 4:47, he would like to reduce that time to 4:40, while in the 800 he is hoping to get his time below 2 minutes (he is currently at 2:05).

“The mile will probably be the easier of the two. I feel that I am already running fast in the 800 and to take 5 seconds off my time in such a short distance will be tougher,” O’Brien said. “While those are my goals, this is my last high school season with this team and I really want to just go out and have fun with my teammates and enjoy it.”

When his high school career comes to an end in a few months he may be saying goodbye to his friends and teammates, but he will not be saying goodbye to track. O’Brien will be running for Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Ct. 

“If you told sixth grade me that I would be running track in college instead of playing soccer I’d call you crazy,” he said. “Although it is not what I envisioned back then, it will be a great experience the next four years.”

With Sacred Heart on the horizon, O’Brien still has a few months left here in Holliston to lower his times and maybe even break another record or two before he leaves.