Manteo senior breaks longstanding cross country record

Published 3:07 pm Monday, December 30, 2024

1 of 9

MHS senior Sam Head (left) broke Jay Sutherland’s (right) 1991 5k school record with a time of 16:38. Later in the season Head set a new record of 16:23. Summer Stevens photo

Manteo High School senior Sam Head broke the All Time school record for the 5k with a time of 16:38. Two and a half weeks later, he broke his own record with a time of 16:23. Courtesy Left Field Photography

The boys cross country team won regionals this year for the first time since 1991. The meet was held at the Lenoir County Fairgrounds in Kingston on October 26. Shown, from left, are Coach Dan Gale, Zeke Leary, Sam Head, Luke Stevens, Toby Fleckenstein, Austin Godfrey, Solomon Cooper, Nicholas Jacquelin, Bennet Jones and Coach Emily DiNoto. Courtesy Jodi Wyant

Seniors Sam Head and Zeke Leary have been running together on the Manteo cross country team since freshman year. Courtesy Jodi Wyant

The bound files of The Coastland Times housed at the Outer Banks History Center include this edition from 1991 featuring record-setter Jay Sutherland and the title-winning MHS cross country team. Courtesy Outer Banks History Center

The men’s cross country team has a close bond. The team took home the gold at regionals this fall. Courtesy Jodi Wyant

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

For three years, Manteo High School student Sam Head worked toward breaking a 33-year-old school record for the fastest cross country 5k. Through grueling workouts, injuries, and unshakeable determination, he finally achieved his goal.

When Sam’s family moved from Wisconsin to Manteo in third grade, one of his first activities was GO FAR, a youth program that encourages the lifelong enjoyment of running.

“I didn’t care for running that much but I would do the 5ks,” he said. His first 5k was clocked at 27 minutes flat.

Get the latest headlines sent to you

Through elementary school, he played soccer and participated in GO FAR twice a year. In middle school, he went out for football but said he wasn’t very good and his coach always made him run laps. After two concussions, he decided football wasn’t his sport.

He gave cross country a try in the fall of his ninth grade year. “I didn’t even know cross country was a thing,” he recalled. His older brother Robert was on the team, and, if he’s honest, he said, there was also a cute girl on the team he wanted to spend more time with.

He started two weeks late, but quickly caught up. He liked hanging out with the team, but admits he didn’t train that hard the first year. He ran a 19:36 at regionals. He wasn’t the best runner on the team, he said, but he enjoyed the sport.

But even if Sam didn’t recognize his talent that first year, other people did.

“Coach DiNoto and I recognized Sam’s God-given ability the first day he ran as a freshman,” said cross country assistant coach Dan Gale.

That first season, Gale told Sam’s mom, “He’s a gazelle. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Sam never forgot those words.

Somewhere in the middle of his sophomore year season, Sam got serious about running. He had dropped two minutes from his time and was running in the mid-17s. He and his teammate and best friend Zeke Leary started talking about the school record.

“We both claimed we would get it junior year,” Sam laughed. “We were cocky.”

At Manteo High School, there are two categories of records. There is the New Era record – after 2004 when First Flight High School was built and the high schools were divided – and then there is the All Time record, which goes back to 1983 when Manteo High School was built at its current location.

Sam had already broken the New Era record, but he had his sights set on the All Time. It had been set by Jay Sutherland in 1991. Jay was a soccer player, and he was fast. At the end of soccer season he would come out and race with the cross country team. His senior year, there was an incredibly talented group of runners. They made it to states and won. That title remains Manteo’s first and only cross-country states win. Jay ran a 16:49, setting a school record that would be untouched for 33 years.

At the beginning of his junior year, Sam’s cross country season was off to a good start. He’d had a strong spring season in track and had been staying in shape throughout the summer. Then, on October 6, he injured his foot while playing a pick-up game of basketball.

All hopes of winning at conference or placing at states, let alone breaking any school records, were put on hold.

He wore a medical boot for weeks to strengthen his muscles. Though he was supposed to have three more weeks in the boot, Sam wanted to help his team get to regionals.

“I walked around in the boot and when we ran I took off the boot and put on my shoes and ran.”

It was costly for him. It hurt to run and he knew he was risking another injury.

“I really wanted to go to states again,” he explained. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win regionals. I think we would have done that if I wasn’t injured. The other guys were running great. If could just come back and run a 20-minute 5k we’d be fine and we as a team could go to states.”

So he pushed through.

The boys did make it to states, and Sam ran upwards of 19:40. Prior to his injury, he was clocked at 18:05.

“It was discouraging,” he said. “But I never gave up. I always wanted to be fast. Even if I didn’t get the school record I always wanted to be as fast as I could.”

Sam said he kept pressing toward that goal. It kept him motivated and it kept him out of trouble. “Cross country has always given me a way out of doing bad stuff. If I had an offer to smoke weed, I always declined – ‘Oh my lungs, my lungs’ – it always worked.”

That spring, Sam took a break from winter sports and focused on strengthening the muscles around his injured foot. In the spring, he was stronger than ever. He went out for track and broke the New Era record at regionals for the 1-mile with a 4:46 (held since 2018 by Marcos Gomez). He ran several community 5ks that spring, coming in at 17:40 for one race and then dropping more than 30 seconds for a finish of 17:07 at another race.

That school record was finally back in sight.

Sam worked as a lifeguard during the summer, doing PT in the mornings and putting in extra miles in the afternoons or evenings. He said that for him, it was all about consistency – just getting out there and running every day. He logged 200 miles over the summer before cross country practice officially began at the end of July.

“Running is almost all mental,” Sam explained.

“It’s mental when you have to get up in the morning and put on those shoes and just get out the door. And once you get out the door it’s easy. And it’s mental when you get to the season and you can’t think about what you did over the summer and you can’t think about what your competitors did over the summer. Because you can’t change that. You just have to get on the line and – it’s cliché – but you kind of have to go to battle. When he tries to push ahead, you have to push harder.”

From the very first meet of the season of his senior year, Sam Head was on fire. His dedication throughout the years was finally paying off.

But it had been a crazy week, he said. His girlfriend had just broken up with him. “I felt like my world was falling apart. But that song, ‘Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place’ – it just felt like that. And then four days later I ended up getting it.”

It was the last home meet of the season. The gun was fired and the runners took off from the line. Sam’s first mile was 5:10 – perfect pacing. He rounded mile two with a strong lead. He emerged from the field and onto the track. As Coach Gale called it all those years ago, he was a gazelle. Only this time I think he knew it.

When asked how he feels when he runs, he replied immediately.

“Free.”

“When I’m running a race, I feel like I’m in a racecar, making turns around the track. If I’m running alone, I’ll have music in, and it’s like freedom almost.”

Sam said he didn’t wear his watch that day, so he wasn’t keeping track of his time. “I wasn’t even trying to break the school record that day, I was just trying to win. There was a kid from Camden who was really fast.”

On October 9, 2024, Sam Head crossed the finish line, breaking the Manteo High School cross country 5k all-time record with a time of 16:38.

Two and a half weeks later, he broke his own record at regionals with a time of 16:23, leading the boys’ team to a regionals win – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since 1991.

But Sam is quick to share the credit. Cross country, though individual, is a team sport. The places for the top five runners from each school are added together to select the winning school. You can’t do it alone.

“You’re always faster because of the people around you. If Zeke wasn’t fast, I wouldn’t have tried. If the seniors around us weren’t fast, Zeke wouldn’t have tried. Even with the people around us, the different schools – if First Flight wasn’t fast, and I could win conference with an 18-minute 5k, I would sit right there and just keep running 18-minute 5k. It’s about the environment you’re in,” he said.

Sam remembers not only his exact 5k times throughout his cross-country career, but also those of most of his teammates. He rattles off what his teammates ran last year at states, and what the team ran the year before at regionals.

“That’s all I do,” he laughed. “I remember that but I don’t remember math equations or Heron’s formula.”

But college opportunities are opening up for him. He’s looked at a few schools and is planning to study business communications or exercise science. “I think my passion is getting your body to the next level. It’s always been something that I liked.”

When asked how he’s feeling about finishing up his high school cross country career, he says (incredibly), “I wish I would have tried more.”

But you broke the school record.

“Yes, but there’s so much more I could have done,” he insists. “I wish I would have gotten our team more focused from the start, and me as well. We could have been so good. I look at teams like Brevard and I wish that was us. Or kids like Jack Anstrom and I wish that was me.”

Sam may believe he should have tried harder, but his coaches couldn’t be prouder of him.

“Not only has Sam improved his physical abilities, he has developed a great amount of grit and determination,” said cross country head coach Emily DiNoto. “This year as a senior he took on leadership roles on the team and was a constant encouragement to his teammates. At the end of every practice he broke the team down with some motivating words to send us home. I’m so proud of everything Sam has accomplished.”

“Sam has a great heart,” Coach Gale said. “He has really matured over the last 4 years. He has become more dedicated as the years have gone by and his hard work was rewarded.”

And, as pesky goals tend to be, once you’ve achieved one, it doesn’t take long to set your sights on something else.

“Chasing something like a school record was really fun,” Sam said. “Making money isn’t the best thing in the world but chasing something like the Olympic trials is something I’ve just thought of this year. I don’t know if I’ll get it but I just want to chase it and see how fast I can get. I just want to go. I just want to be able to run there. If I get eliminated the first round so be it, I just want to get there.”

Good luck, Sam. We know you’ll get there. And when you do, Manteo will be cheering you on.

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS HERE.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE COASTLAND TIMES TODAY!