Buckle Up And Salute!

100m 10.9

200m 22.5

400m 52.0

4x100 43.5

4x200 1:30

4x400: 3:27

800 SMR 1:37

1600 SMR 3:37

My most memorable competition was True Team Sections at Lakeville North my junior  year. The True Team meet is always a big deal because a bid to State is on the line, and friends and people from the area all come to watch. It was also my first varsity meet, and I was only running the 100 that day. I was really nervous because there was a guy in my heat that ran at State in the open 100 the previous year and entering that meet, and I had never lost to someone running in the same heat as me and I was desperate to keep that going. I ended up beating him and I remember that almost everyone watching was super surprised. I ended up taking 5th place at that meet and that's when I learned that I could be a great track athlete.

My favorite people to compete against were definitely the sprinters from Rochester John Marshall, especially Shahan Ameen. They were always friendly competitors and they are all so fast and every time we raced something big was on the line. Whenever we raced it was always very close and we usually PR'd because we were pushing each other so hard. I also enjoyed competing against my own teammates, especially as I was trying to prove that I was fast. I loved competing against my teammates Cedric Sanford and Jeremiah Jacobson because we would always compete so hard against each other in practice and meets with the motivation of being the fastest person in the school. I also liked competing against Prior Lake, because I hate Prior Lake so much and always wanted to beat them. They were always tough to beat, but we beat them a lot.

The greatest accomplishment during my career was working my way from being one of the worst athletes in every sport I tried to becoming elite in a sport finally. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, I was cut from every single sports team I tried out for, except for when I made C team in basketball and Single-A in baseball when I was in eighth grade. After getting cut from baseball sophomore year, I decided to run track for the first time. I started out late, so I ran at four different JV meets and I sucked at first just like I did at every other sport I tried. I would run the 100 and run a 12.3, I would high jump and I never cleared the opening height of 5', and I would run a 59-second 400m. In the winter of my junior year, I set a goal to try to run fast enough to maybe, just maybe, grab the third and "slowest" varsity spot for the 100. So in an effort to reach my goal, I lifted and worked out after school every single day. At the beginning of the year, my goal was looking like it was going to be a failure, because I was still running 12 second 100s and I quickly found myself back on JV. Then out of frustration, at one of our JV meets I busted out an 11.5 and took the JV meet by a lot, surprising everyone. Then I finally got the chance to run at a varsity meet, at the True Team Section Meet that I mentioned before where I had to race a guy in my heat that went to State the previous year, so I figured I was going to lose for sure. I somehow found a way to beat him, running 11.4, stunning my teammates. After that meet I set a goal to run a 11.3 and maybe an 11.2 if I was lucky by the end of the season. Then our conference meet came and I was super nervous, but I was feeling like I was about to drop an 11.2 for the first time. I ended up getting so nervous that I jumped out of my blocks early and got disqualified for false starting. I remember watching all of my teammates dominate and PR, while I just sat and watched. I was so sad and frustrated that I think I cried every day until the next meet came. That meet was Sections and I was seeded 9th and I had to race the top seed in prelims so I figured I had no chance of making State and a low chance of making finals. However I shocked everybody, including myself, as I somehow beat the top seed. When finals came out I realized that I could potentially realistically qualify for the State by running the qualifying time of 11.14, which had felt like it was impossible to achieve. However, when finals rolled around I took fourth, so I figured I wasn't going to State. Then the times were shown on the scoreboard and it said "Ethan Buckles - 11.14 Qualifying for State." I was so overjoyed, because I had just accomplished the unthinkable, going from JV to State in less than one season. When I got to State I was convinced that I would be able to break 11, something very few Minnesota sprinters are capable of doing. When I saw on the results sheet that I ran a 10.9, I was so overjoyed. Even though I narrowly missed finals, I was so hyped that I ran neck and neck with some of the most elite sprinters in the state. It is so crazy that I could do all of that after being a JV athlete for most of the year and dropping my 100 time from a 12 to a 10. This should tell every sprinter in the state that you can truly do anything you set your mind to.

I would've started running track earlier so I could've established myself as a solid sprinter earlier and become a more accomplished sprinter. I also would've tried to learn how to get better at more field events so I could've been more valuable to my team. Then I would also would've convinced the best athletes at our school to come out for track. If I could've helped get these guys to run track, I really think our team would've won the True Team State Meet. In addition, I would've prevented the car accident that killed our sprints captain, Jake Flynn ,from ever happening. If he could've been on our squad last year, he would've been the best captain ever and would have led us to a state title in the 4x100.

I will be going to college and running track, but I am not sure where yet. I will either be running track at North Dakota, Minnesota State, Wisconsin-Whitewater, or Wisconsin Eau Claire.

I will really miss running track with all of my friends and all of my great coaches from such a great program. I will also miss running against some of my biggest track rivals I have been facing.

This season, I had to run the 100, the 400, and then the 200 in order to score as many points as possible for my team at meets. At most of my meets I felt so dead, sore, and tired after running the 400 that I just wanted to scratch from the 200. I kept doing this the whole year and I usually performed pretty well in the 200 despite the fatigue. Between the heavy load at meets and tough workouts in practice, I was frequently fatigued at meets, which prevented me from performing at my peak sometimes, but I kept fighting and competing and still ran close to the top of my game.

I feel like my coaches are some of the best in the state and have helped teach me how to become a successful athlete. They helped lead me from nowhere to somewhere to track and they have done that with so many athletes on our squad. They have also helped me deal with stressful situations on and off of the track and how to move on from them in life.

It was really frustrating that I didn't PR in the 100 Senior year, because I was on a mission to try to prove to everyone that I am an elite sprinter. It was tough because I never really had the ideal sprinting conditions to do so and I worked so hard all offseason.

Start as soon as possible and don't get discouraged when you don't get the results that you hope for. As long as you work hard, you can do anything you set your mind to.

I have traveled to Israel and Jordan and I plan on traveling to Egypt this fall.

Huge shoutout to Brittan Burns and Clay Geary, two big-time, hard-working teammates that have worked with me and helped motivate me to where I am today.