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Metille running with it
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Canfield High School graduate Tyler Metille, now a hurdler and hepathlete at Mount Union, was a bit of a late bloomer as an athlete. Metille developed into a championship-caliber performer with the Purple Raiders. He has become an Ohio Athletic Conference champion and has set his sights on the U.S. Olympic Trials.
By Ryan Buck
Canfield
Mount Union junior hurdler and heptathlete Tyler Metille has lofty goals for the future.
He has his sights set on the U.S. Olympic Trials and the USA Track and Field Championships before his career comes to a close.
His coach doesn’t see anything extravagant about that.
“These are things he’s capable of,” said Kevin Lucas, fifth-year head coach of the Purple Raiders’ track and field program. “I told him one day, ‘You could be a national champion in the 400-meter hurdles. But it’s not going to be given to you.’”
After a successful indoor season during the winter of 2013, Metille methodically inched closer to a title-worthy time in the outdoor events as his sophomore season progressed before winning Sprinter of the Meet honors at the Ohio Athletic Conference Meet.
He entered April’s NCAA Division III national meet in LaCrosse Wis., with the nation’s No. 1 time in the 400-meter hurdles and a spot in the finals.
“Once I got to the national meet, I knew that everyone there either was on the same level or easily could have been by times they’d run in the past,” said Metille, 20. “I knew I had to run my best time, no matter what, if I was going to win. There would be no room for error.”
Metille was flawless, clearing the finish line with a time of 51.24 seconds for a national title while breaking a 41-year-old Mount Union record.
“It really didn’t hit me at first because I saw the time and I was so pumped up,” he said. “It took a few seconds to set in. I started thinking how everything paid off, emotions were going. I was so excited, hugging my coach and my mom. I realized that I could really make something of my career and then about 5 minutes after the results were announced, the first thing that came into my head was defending my title next year.”
Metille’s time is less than 3 seconds off the top collegiate time in the country regardless of division.
Such forward thinking propelled Metille from a solid, but unspectacular high school athlete into a national standout.
One might call him a late bloomer.
“My high school career wasn’t as good as I would have liked it to have been,” Metille said. “I developed later as I got into college and I didn’t do too much special.”
Still, the raw talent was there. He had a nice basketball career at Canfield and track coach Pat Pavlansky pushed Metille toward the hurdles events.
Mount Union was an ideal destination when he looked into colleges.
“I was looking for a small school with a good track program and I knew that the coaches there were really good, the 400-meter coaches especially,” Metille said. “I thought it was a good fit.”
He arrived on campus with little fanfare, but made an impression on Lucas and hurdles coach Cory Beebe, who trained with him daily.
“He was a typical freshman,” Lucas said. “He was a little bit cocky, but he understood his goals and what he wanted to accomplish.”
By the end of the winter indoor season, Metille was winning the 500-meter hurdles at the conference meet. In the spring, he was all-conference in two events.
His dedication intensified.
“The summer after my freshman year I was in the weight room working every day and once I got back for my sophomore season, I was more dedicated than I had been at any time in my life,” Metille said. “All I wanted to do was run. A little bit of success really led to more inspiration.”
Somewhere along the way, Metille realized his opportunity. Now he’s running with it.