One of this year’s fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase times for a high school athlete belongs to Evan Waterton, a rising senior at Monticello High School.

Evan, born and raised in Monticello, is just upholding the family legacy.

“My family is a big running group," Waterton said. "My brother ran; my dad and my mom ran. So it was always in the family.”

What You Need To Know

  • Evan Waterton is a track and field runner at Monticello High School

  • He holds the state's second-fastest high school mile time this year, and the nation's second-fastest steeplechase time

  • Waterton says his goals include one day making the U.S. Olympic track and field team

Waterton has had a great 2021 track and field season; he holds the second-best time in New York state for the 1,600 meters (mile) at 4 minutes, 16.2 seconds, according to MileSplit, and he is ranked second nationally by athletic.net in the 3,000 steeplechase (9 minutes, 35.09 seconds).

After the pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, Evan says he was ready to perform at a high level this year.

“I knew I was gonna do really well that season, ‘cause I was making it to state meets and doing really well in my competitions. But I was like, ‘OK, I have to get after it this year,’ ” Waterton said.

Although the school year is over, Evan still has more work to do. He's spending his weekend working out in preparation for his trip to Oregon to compete at the NSAF Outdoor Nationals on Tuesday. Despite the great season, he’s keeping things in perspective.

“Stay focused and make sure my training was there and make sure I wasn’t getting injured," Waterton said." So I was making sure, I would stretch every day after practice and before practice, just preventing all causes of getting injured.”

Today, Waterton is working on barriers, going around the track half a dozen times, leaping over barriers with each lap. He says part of his training regimen includes focusing on quality over quantity and to ensure that he remains free of injury, so he can go out and give it his best at every event. That's because he has his sights set on the biggest stage.

“I wanna compete on the Olympic team and, get a gold medal, hopefully. But I just have to stay focused, stay with my training, make sure I don’t get injured as much as possible," Waterton said.

But he remains humble, even as the community recognizes him as a star athlete.

“People will come up to me like, ‘Oh, you’re that kid that’s running really fast," Waterton said. "It’s kind of interesting to me ’cause I’m not used to it. I just think I’m a normal kid, just living my life, but getting a lot of recognition."