High school basketball player finds new home on the track in Massachusetts
SUDBURY - After getting cut from his basketball team, a high school student in Massachusetts took up a new sport where he's flourished.
Cut from basketball team
Ethan Sholk was a member of the Lincoln-Sudbury High School basketball team his freshman year but got cut when he was a sophomore. Saying it "put a chip on my shoulder," Sholk went in a new direction, running track full time. He did a 5K with the cross country team and several races with the track team, including the mile.
"I couldn't have imagined I would have been this good, I didn't run before my freshman year at all," said Sholk.
The first year, Sholk qualified for their division meet. Sophomore year, he placed 77th in the state meet. Junior year, he rose to 16th place in the state meet.
"Just this last Saturday, I ran the Massachusetts state meet and placed second with a time of 5:35," said Sholk.
"He's got this fire, appreciation for the opportunity to do something that no one's done," said Lincoln-Sudbury track coach Melvin Gonsalves. He said during practice, Sholk is somewhat of a unicorn. "He has to do a lot of his training by himself because he is so much better than most people on our team."
Believing in himself
More than anything, Gonsalves credits Sholk's success to his belief in himself.
"When my legs are feeling really lactic, and I feel like I can't keep going, I just tell myself it's going to be worth it at the end," said Sholk.
That pay off is a commitment to run for Middlebury College next year.
"Running, it's a lot of people's punishment, which I think kind of fueled me," said Sholk. "I want to be good at what people hate."
