Indoor Track & Field Co-Captain Max Huang ’24 emanates leadership on and off the track, with valuable advice and positive example setting. Huang hopes to encourage others to appreciate the team and camaraderie aspects of running while putting in effort and discipline.
For most of Huang’s life, he was a soccer player, and would only occasionally run local 5ks and races with family and friends. Eventually, Huang would develop a love for running and the community that came with it. When an injury stalled his soccer journey, he fully committed to running. Huang highlighted how running at Andover became a community for him to belong to, finding support in his team and coaches.
Huang said, “There are a couple of people on the running team who I’d seen had done really well… and seeing their success through this program made me believe in the program and want to be a part of it. Once I joined the team, the culture was just very supportive and encouraging and that’s something that kept me in the sport.”
Approaching his leadership with open-mindedness, Huang utilizes his captainship to offer advice to runners, passing down what his previous mentors and coaches taught him. Huang commented on how he tries to pass positivity and passion down through team spirit.
“I couldn’t have made it to where I am today in running without the incredible mentors I’ve had along the way. As someone with a lot of experience in running, I try to pay that forward by sharing advice, spreading positivity, and leading by example, especially because the team has a lot of younger runners who are new to the sport… It’s really important to support them, teach them about the sport, and nurture their energy into steady improvement in team spirit. And I emphasize the word ‘steady’ because running is really about discipline and making incremental improvements…” said Huang.
Avin Ramratnam ’24, Huang’s teammate in Cross Country and Indoor Track & Field, highlighted how Huang embodies continuous dedication to the team through the way he engages with teammates. Ramratnam emphasized the impact that Huang’s example-setting has had on the program.
“His commitment makes other people committed. He’s so invested in the team and the program, and he makes it obvious every day through his training, through his stretching, staying after practice, talking to his teammates,” said Ramratnam.
As a Co-Captain, Huang works to motivate others to find a similar sense of community within the team that he did. Jakob Kuelps ’25 recalled his experience being introduced to the track program from Huang as a prospective student.
“Max was the first person that I met at Andover. He was my tour guide on my revisit day, and I was applying here as a new Lower. When I saw him, I knew that I wanted to be part of this team. He immediately came up to me, introduced himself, was super nice, showed me all the track facilities, and took time out of his day to show me really what it was like to be at Andover. He was so open-minded [and] welcoming and made me want to be part of this program. That first interaction with Max and going with him on revisit day is something that I’ll never forget. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m here at Andover today,” said Kuelps.
With the final full-team meet taking place on February 14 against Exeter, Huang reflected on the team culture throughout the season, and the specific values he aimed to highlight. In building a closer team, Huang took advantage of long workouts to promote bonding with teammates to forge connections.
“Running is unique in the sense that there’s no other sport with the same opportunity to build community. For the distance team, most of our runs are 45 minutes, where we just get to talk with each other, hear about each other’s days, and grow tighter as a group. For the rest of the team, the majority of their practices and meets is rest in between their sprints, jumps, and throws, and of course, you have to stay focused while you’re training, but I think there’s just so much time spent talking and bonding… On top of that, I think the captains are always thinking of ways to keep practices fun… All of those things together create a tight-knit community,” said Huang.
Huang’s love for the sport has led him to encourage and support many new runners as they begin their running journeys. To build a stronger community, Huang hopes to share with newer runners his passion for the sport, its history, and the program at Andover.
“General excitement in the sport is really important to keep each other going. Something I aim to do every day is just to spread my love for the sport because running isn’t as publicized as some of the other sports out there. Behind the curtains is a super exciting world of competition and running has a really rich, beautiful history. I enjoy learning about this and just keeping up with all the current events in track. I’m always trying to teach others, make them aware, and bring them into the world of track and field because there’s just so much action. I just want to show that to my teammates and get them excited about running,” said Huang.
