All of the hard work has led you to this moment, every muscle in your body aches, sweat dripping down your face, yet you cut through the wind like a knife.
This is the freshman mile race, a defining point for Banner Barnes, who is in the lead.
Banner Barnes started off on the junior varsity cross country and track team last year, when he was a freshman. Over the past year, however, Barnes has quickly risen up the ranks on the team and earned a varsity role early in his high school career. Putting in the work and being consistent, he has tackled many milestones such as earning first in the Carmel Showcase freshman mile last spring, As well as the top 4 spot in the 4×800.
However, while doing so, he has encountered some barriers.
“Racing against people who are older than me and more experienced is challenging,” Barnes said.
Despite the age and experience gap, he has found a way and has certainly showcased his skills. Although he has already accomplished so much, Barnes says he won’t stop there. According to Barnes, he will continue to go onto bigger and better things with time and hard work.
“My goal is to make the podium at state in the mile,” Barnes said.
The freshman mile race is a chance for Barnes to show off his talent yet again. The Carmel invitational last year was a turning point for him, he has only seen improvement since then. Barnes is confident he will continue to succeed and to compete better than ever through his varsity spot on both teams.
“This season will be good, we have a lot of talent,” Barnes said.
Being invited to the Carmel invitational last spring and winning first place in the freshman mile was exactly what it took to make that jump to varsity. Senior Bode Barnes, cross country athlete and Banner’s brother, has ran his entire high school career. The brotherly competition of racing to the end has motivated Bode.
“Competition wise, I’d say, at the beginning I thought of it as a competition. He beat me once or twice. I was like, maybe he’s just on a high streak. I’ll catch him at some point after that,” Bode said. “Once he started constantly running those fast times, I just started to realize that maybe he actually is faster than what we all thought”.”
Banner continued to grow more with consistency, an important component of success for athletes especially at the highschool level. Pushing the abilities of your body to challenge itself is a difficult task to achieve. The Barnes brothers have both done this and continue to do more everyday and Bode attributes his successes to Banner providing a consistent effort alongside him.
“He definitely pushed me to be more consistent. This year, I’ve been more consistent than I ever have in cross country. It’s mostly just seeing like because he did start somewhere freshman year, and he’s grown upon that, and he’s been more consistent than I have. So seeing that growth, I was like, Maybe I should try being more consistent and I can see the same kind of growth ” Bode said.
From growing up running together to Bode now being a senior means that this is their last year competing and challenging each other along the way.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Bode said “I’m glad because I know that he still has more years of running, so still a ton of potential.”
Bill Kenley, a cross country and distance track coach, also an english teacher at NHS has seen the growth and bond between the barnes brothers first hand.
“Bode and Banner are very supportive of each other,” Kenley said.
Kenley coaches the two of them and gets to see just how much they build each other up, having an older brother like Bode to guide Banner and encourage him to strive for greater goals.
“Banner’s confidence has definitely improved, although he has never not been confident in himself,” said Kenley.
For many athletes, a good support system can lead to large successes as Banner has accomplished.
“I think he is pretty clear eyed on how good he is, he is confident without being arrogant, and I think he has a great mindset,” Kenley said.
According to teammates and coaches, Barnes has had ample opportunity to develop an arrogant attitude but he maintains humility.
Banner believes that being able to be confident in himself and stay focused on his goals is what will lead him to success.
“It is his first full year truly being really focused on distance running, since last year cross country he’s been really focused, he is going to get much better,” Kenley said.
Banner’s supporters believe that he will go on to bigger and greater things, the world is his oyster, it’s up to him to decide what to do with it.
“He is a focused athlete, ” “Kenley,”” special.”
