s Sam Deskin s Despite injuries, he persisted

Boardman's Sam Deskin

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Suburban Cross Country Meet

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Boardman High’s Sam Deskin started running when his professional biking career hit a snag.

“All the way up to 11 or 12, I never learned how to ride a bike without training wheels,” Deskin said. “With everybody else, it was like 9 and they were making fun of me. I was really mad and I forgot about the bike and just started running everywhere.

“That kind of got me into it.”

In fifth grade, he ran a timed mile in gym class and finished with the best time.

“I figured I’d go out for cross country because I wasn’t big enough for football,” said Deskin, who played soccer for much of his life. “It just came naturally to me and I liked it.”

After injuries disrupted his first two varsity cross country seasons, Deskin showed off his talent this fall, finishing 12th in Division I at the state meet with one of the best times (15:59.09) in school history. He also won individual titles at the Mahoning County and Suburban League meets, leading Boardman to team titles in both.

It was a much different season than his past two, when heel tendonitis hindered his freshman campaign and a hip flexor all but wiped out his sophomore season. He never felt completely right last year, with his sophomore indoor and outdoor track times slower than his freshman times.

“This summer I did everything right as far as being cautious and stretching more,” he said.

He’d like to qualify for the state track meet in the mile and the two-mile next spring, while taking aim at the school’s mile record of 4:14, 12 seconds faster than his career-best.