* Greer's Coen Roberts embraces his father after finishing Foot Locker Nationals; Photo Credit: Bryan Deibel
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For a second, Coen Roberts thought about giving up on Saturday. He wouldn't have been the first over the past decade to walk off the course at Foot Locker Nationals.
It had happened three prior times dating back to 2010.
A lot of thoughts were going through the Greer High Schooler's head a little past two miles.
There was the strain he was feeling in his back, which only seemed to be elevating. Then there was his place -- he was last. And there was the distance, which he still had a lot of to cover.
But then Roberts had a real put-up-or-shut-up moment. The thought only seemed to last a second.
I'm stronger than that.
"Today I think it was that big hill, really," he said. "It really made something back there being painful. At that point, I wanted to finish the race. That was important to me."
Roberts was 40th overall in 16:47.70, a finish he certainly wasn't expecting after arguably having the best race of his career at Foot Locker South, finishing as the runner-up and tying his career best 5K of 14:59.00.
But the ignominy of finishing last in a national championship race isn't, in fact, a curse. Most athletes have difficult races, and there's strength in learning how to respond afterward.
Roberts, a Wake Forest signee, knew it would have been easy to quit. But all the training and work he had put into this race beforehand would have been wasted on a DNF.
"Coming out here, I definitely felt like I belonged here. And it was kind of my job to come out here and do the race," he said. "That's what I've been training for my whole middle and high school career. It meant a lot to come out here and line up on the starting line with the rest of the guys."
Roberts had won his South Carolina Class 4A title, and he had even set a course record in Spartanburg at the Eye Opener Invitational in September. A national title was out of his grasp, but his season had been unforgettable.
"As a whole, my season was great," he said. "It's definitely been my best cross or track season so far. Every race has been good. I can't think of another race other than this one where things went poorly. I have to be happy with it."
Even if he had the toughest race of his career, Roberts still had support around him. He embraced with his father afterward.
Some time later, he set his sights on the outdoor track and field season.
"It will be a big motivation for me going through track season," he said. "If you look at my MileSplit, my track times are lacking behind those other guys here. I haven't had a good track season yet. My goals are to get a fast 8-16-32 under my belt, get that on my MileSplit profile. Hopefully I'll get invited to a meet like Brooks PR or go to New Balance Nationals and show up against some of the big guys there."
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