Randolph junior Roan Kelly, seen here running in the Section VI championships earlier this month, finished seventh at the Nike New York Regional Meet this weekend. File photo by Mike Frame

In cross country as well as track and field, Roan Kelly had about as good of a sophomore season as possible.

Kelly finished the season on the podium at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association track and field championships with a second-place finish in Division 2 in the 1,600 meters.

“Coming off track season last year, he had maybe the best sophomore season in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association ever,” Randolph cross country coach Sean Ode stated. “We had really high expectations for cross country, especially after he put in a great summer of training.”

With how well he performed as a sophomore, the expectations in his junior year running for the Randolph Cardinals were through the roof, and Kelly was ready to exceed them just like he did the year before.

“Roan has been running at the varsity level since seventh grade,” Ode added. “He has the most competitive spirit of anyone I have ever worked with. He sets his sights high and now as he’s gotten older he knew if he put in the work that he could do it. Last year what he did in 10th grade was incredible. … I can’t say that we saw it coming.”

However, Kelly was faced with some unforeseen obstacles to start his junior season. An abductor sprain limited him at the beginning of the cross country season, then shortly after being cleared, the injury was re-aggravated and he was forced to miss three weeks.

“I don’t think there is a better person than him to face the obstacles he had to face,” Ode said about Kelly facing his injuries. “Getting back in shape he used the elliptical machine at 5 in the morning.”

“A lot of people find running boring and monotonous, but after several weeks on the machine he appreciated the running training,” Ode added. “He never lost his focus for even a day, he’s just always looking forward.”

When Kelly was able to run, he wasn’t in the best form he could be in, but it was coming. Kelly still managed to have some really strong runs and was pushed by other local talent such as Southwestern’s Nate Lewis.

“Even through the injury, we were able to manage it where he could get into some races,” Ode added. “Roan ran a 16:22 at the Red Dragon Invitational. Even with what was going on he was able to compete with the best competitors in this area. Nate Lewis really pushed him, it helped to have that person to help push him in the area.”

Despite the injury, Kelly was still able to compete at an elite level. However, the injury did change some of the expectations throughout the year.

“Coming into the season he knew he could compete against anybody in the state,” Ode said. “We went into the season with a set of goals: win CCAA Runner of the Year; win All-Western New York Runner of the Year; win states; and qualify for nationals. Despite a major setback with injury, he won CCAA Runner of the Year and the All-Western New York Runner of the Year is still up for debate. As for those other goals, they will have to wait until next year.”

Down the stretch it looked like Kelly was getting into top form just in time for the big races. He ran his best races at the state meet, Federation meet and then the Nike New York Regional Meet.

“He really wanted to win the state meet for Class D, but the kid at the top was too much for him to get there,” Ode added. “He ran the Nike meet and it was the at the same place as the Federation meet. When he got that eighth place at the Federation meet, he looked strong on that last mile and after that we reevaluated things. It really started to look real that at the Nike meet he might be able to get that top-five finish.”

In the Nike New York Regional Meet he ran his best race placing seventh while running a personal best time of 16:16. The placement earned him All-Region First Team honors and a course speed rating of 184 which was up from the 179 he ran the week before.

“At the end he got right up there,” Ode added. “He just didn’t have quite enough to qualify for nationals. Overall, it was a really satisfying finish to the season.”