The thought of sprinting down the track can be scary enough, but place 10 hurdles in the way and most people would take a pass. Not Elkhorn High School’s record-breaking hurdler Brody Clevenger. The junior has been improving his talent since his seventh grade year and has stuck to it. Clevenger has lots of plans moving forward in the season and even looking forward to his post high school career.
“I do the 110 hurdles and also the 300 hurdles,” Clevenger said. “I broke both school records this year with my 110 hurdles now at 14:27 seconds and the 300 squad at 39:28.”
Clevenger broke the records early in this season and has many coaches from other schools already looking at him. The junior is very proud of his achievements this season and his hard work leading up to it.
“Track just seemed fun to me,” Clevenger said. “And I also just love running which is why I started.”
Clevenger has not changed his events since he started which shows his commitment to the sport.
“During the off season I just lifted a ton and it was actually the first year I did so much for track in the off season,” Clevenger said. “I went to a Nebraska camp and also indoor track in the winter this year.”
Clevenger has prepared himself so well for this season, it is no surprise he made his goals right at the start. Because of this pressure has also been lifted off of his shoulders immensely.
Clevenger puts little thought about his races when he gets to the finish line to put himself in a good mindset.
“I really don’t try to think about much except the first hurdle but not really the rest of the race,” Celevenger said. “I don’t think about if I’m uncomfortable or if it’s too cold, everything just comes to me when I start running.”
Because Clevenger is very talented in his sport, he says he would like to continue his journey after his high school years.
“I do have plans of doing track after high school so I’ll probably start emailing coaches this spring and summer,” Clevenger said. “I already have multiple coaches looking at me too.”
Clevenger has challenged himself throughout his track career, but admits it is not as easy as it may look. There is a lot of effort and commitment that goes with the sport.
“My advice for beginner hurdlers would be to just stick to it,” Clevenger said. “A lot of people give up hurdling because it’s really hard to do but you need to trust the process.”
