Since picking up track to improve his speed for soccer his Junior year, Captain Owen Glover ’19 has competed in mid-distance events and long sprints, such as the 300-Meter, 400-Meter, 600-Meter and the 4×400-Meter, and now leads the team.
Glover said, “I started track my [Junior] spring mostly because my mom told me to. She knew a couple of runners on the team, and I had always been pretty fast and wanted to keep up my speed for soccer.”
Glover gained inspiration and insight on how to lead from past captains, learning how to encourage and welcome all runners to the team.
“I’m really close with almost all of the past Captains. The Captain my [Junior] year, Andrew Wang ’16, took me under his arm a little bit, taught me a lot about how to run the 400-Meter, and I wouldn’t be the runner I am today without him. And also every other captain since I’ve been here I’ve just been super close with, I stay in contact with a lot of them. They are all really great people who have influenced me a lot and I’m proud to be able to be captain and be a member of the same team as them,” said Glover.
As Captain, Glover encourages his teammates and interacts with everyone, even if they are not in the same event as him. He always has a positive attitude, no matter if it is during a meet or everyday practice, according to Zach Moynihan ’21 and Kareem Hill ’19.
Moynihan said, “Owen is a really great leader, you can tell he cares a lot about the team and he’s always really energetic. He does a lot of workouts with distance and when he comes back in and helps us out with our sprint warm-up after doing a big hefty workout with distance, he is still full of energy and really charismatic.”
“I would definitely describe him as upbeat and encouraging. Every meet, and every practice as a matter of fact, he’s leading the pack. He’s always talking to Georgia, but he always finds time to talk to me as well and other people on the team. During the meets I think he is the loudest one in the crowd,” added Hill.
In an email to The Phillipian, Coach Rebecca Hession wrote, “Owen is a model for consistency and self-care for his teammates. Recovering from surgery requires diligence, commitment to a routine and proper preparation for training. Perhaps just as importantly, he arrives at Snyder each day with a smile and a positive attitude. A team can achieve a lot with consistency and positivity. Owen is always ready on meet day. His drive to compete and do his best for the team is contagious.”
Although the track team is very large and has small groups of runners doing different events, Glover manages to unify the entire program through all team warm-ups and his positivity off the track, according to Glover and Hill.
Glover said, “We will start off our practice doing some jumping jacks all together as a team and run laps as a team for the team warm-up which is really a great way to unify everybody. Also the great part about track is that even when you’re not competing, you get to watch everybody else, so you’re always cheering for everyone else on the team.”
Hill added, “His support for the team is contagious… and that has a snowball effect so each of us has such big group support which brings us closer together as a team. Off the track, I would say he’s just a cool person to talk to. He’s mellow, he’s always laughing and starting conversations.”
Glover may primarily run mid-distance and long sprint events, but his wide variety of skills as a runner allows him to run any event that the team needs him to participate in, according to Coach Hession.
Hession wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “Owen brings a ton of versatility to his events. He is primarily mid-distance/long sprints, but I would count on his competitiveness in everything from the 55-Meter to the 2-Mile. He’s the kind of competitor you want on your relay team.”
When reflecting on his four years of track at Andover, Glover has learned that because track is something that many can pick up upon arrival at Andover, it results in a bigger team that creates a more supportive environment, something that he will remember even after he graduates.
Glover said, “Over the course of four years I’ve had some injuries that have taken me out of soccer for a while, but track is always there and I can pick it up pretty easily. I think it always showed me that there’s always a group of people for you no matter what happens. It always showed me that I’ll have this giant team of around 80 people to fall back into it which has been really fantastic.”
