During the 2019-2020 indoor season, Andover Boys Indoor Track & Field Captain Alex Fleury ’20 held the fastest high school one mile time in the country. After joining both the indoor and outdoor teams his Junior year, Fleury has led the team athletically every season and was ultimately elected Captain for his Senior year.
Fleury believes his best skills are patience and consistency while competing on the track and leading the team as Captain.
Fleury said, “I have two traits that I like to use when describing myself as an athlete and it applies to being a captain as well. One of them is patience when it comes to training for me and with everything else that comes with being a runner [such as] nutrition, staying on top of your work and sleep. I think that patience really applies to me because I know that I can’t have my best race every single time and I know that I can’t get a personal best every single time. But patience has allowed me to take something away from every competition or every race no matter if it is a good race or a bad race.”
Fleury continued, “Another trait that applies to me very well is consistency… Consistency in terms of training every day, doing something every day to make me better, whether or not it is a work out, an easy run, or an intentional rest… So for me, staying focused and diligent and being consistent about everything that I do on top of being patient about it has led me to be where I am today.”
According to teammate Xavier Smith ’22 and Head Coach Rebecca Hession, Fleury’s athleticism is unmatched and a result of years of dedicated training.
Smith said, “The best way to describe him is just an absolute animal. When you see him running his race you really can’t help but get hyped up. He’s the craziest athlete I’ve ever seen and he tears up the track whenever he races.”
Hession added, “[His work ethic is] extremely consistent and he has a work ethic that embraces patience in the process. The work that Alex has put in has been years and years and years of consistent training sort of leading up to [his] Senior year.”
Fleury’s most successful events for the indoor season have been the One Mile and 1000-Meter races, however he has also run the 600-Meter race and 300-Meter Dash. He currently holds the school records for all four races. In longer races, Fleury focuses on pacing himself to achieve strong finishes.
“Especially in the mile, the two mile, and the 800, something that I find helps me a lot is that I find that I can that if the pace goes up quick, I can hang on to that pace, like I have before in a couple of my races. I also pride myself in my ability to close very hard in the last few laps of a race,” said Fleury.
Not only do his teammates look up to him for his outstanding athletic ability, but they also admire his effort to connect with all of his fellow runners, according to Lucas Garcia-Rogers ’22 and Smith.
Garcia-Rogers said, “He has a great presence on the team. Even when he’s not running he’s still making a great impact on our group of runners. Before any meets or exercises, he always brings the group together and we do a little cheer together which he leads. He knows everybody by name… after I finished my first race he went up to me and personally congratulated me.”
Smith added, “Although he’s usually cool and collected, he keeps the environment hype and supportive. In terms of outside of track, he stays supportive and makes sure to say ‘hi’ to the team on the path.”
As Captain, Fleury hopes to create an inclusive team environment by forging relationships with his teammates outside of practice.
Fleury said, “I like to talk to people a lot on the team to see where they’re at with the training and to see how they’re doing. I like to connect with them not only on an athletic standpoint, but also talk to them about stuff that is other than track, so the relationship that I have with my teammates isn’t just limited to track so that will allow for conversations to be easier and they can feel like the team has a better dynamic but also they can prompt me with anything if they have a question.”
According to Coach Hession, Fleury is an exemplary leader who is always willing to give his best effort during both practice and meets.
Hession said, “I think he really is the epitome of someone who leads by example, who shows up everyday for his team with a positive attitude ready to give his best and ready to cheer on his teammates, and certainly when it comes to competition, ready to race and compete for his team as best as he can every time he gets on the line.”
Fleury will continue his track & field career in college next year.
