Running track keeps Eoute busy

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, May 12, 2007

Zach Eoute doesn’t like being bored – and there’s no shortage of opportunities on the Lewiston-Porter boys track team.

The Lancers junior first took up the sport last year to help his stamina for soccer and basketball, but the speedy Eoute quickly discovered that he was pretty good at track and field.

“I really enjoy it,” Eoute said. “I came out for track to help keep me in shape for other sports. It really helps my endurance and I think it’s made me faster.”

Eoute was a natural fit in the sprints, and now he’s become a mainstay for the Lancers in the 100 and 200, as well as on the 4x100 relay team, among others.

And he continues to get better.

“Zach’s a very hard worker,” said first-year coach Randy Lombardo. “He’s very encouraging to all of the other athletes on the team. Since I met Zach, he’s always been the type to do whatever he can to help out. He never complains about anything that I ask him to do, and that’s one of the things that makes him a great athlete. He’s dedicated when it comes to any workout, and it’s paying off – his times are improving this year.”

Lombardo says he wishes he had a few more of Zach.

Coming from a relatively small school, the Lancers are traditionally small in numbers in any sport, and track is an example of how that can be especially difficult.

The Lancers have around two dozen athletes on the boys track team, which means each athlete has plenty of chances to compete in a variety of different events. No one complains about playing time, and Eoute says he actually prefers competing in as many different events as he can.

“It’s not a very big team, but it’s really not that bad when we go up against teams that are a lot bigger than us,” Eoute said. “It just means that more people will have to do more events. Almost everybody on the team runs four events, which is the most you’re allowed to run. And actually, I like it better that way. It’s better than just sitting around.”

His times dropped steadily all of last season, and he’s already ahead of the pace he set in 2006. Last year, his best time in the 100 was 11.5 seconds, and this year he’s already down around 11.7 with a couple of weeks still to go in the season.

Eoute says he’s more concerned with improving his times than where he places, figuring that the first will take care of the second. And he’d especially like to see good results at the Niagara Frontier League Championship, set for May 23 and 24 at Lockport High School.

“It’s a little bit of both, actually,” Eoute said. “I want to get my times down, and I hope that means that I place better. You just have to keep working hard and training. I’m hoping that it helps me finish better in the NFL.”