Liam O'Neill '24 Recruiting Profile

Since I can remember I have always loved to run, it has been my great escape. My parents enrolled me when I was 6 in a local track club where I ran community races, began going to USATF meets, and eventually qualified for regional and national meets. Over the years I loved training and competing in all the different track and field events. I was so excited to start high school and compete on the track team and then Covid happened. Most of my freshman year was fully online and no sports were offered. I started getting up early to go on runs in the woods, and it helped to clear my mind and get me through that crazy time. I was lucky to join my high school track team in late April and have been running with them ever since.

I ran outdoor track Freshman year, then Cross Country and indoor my sophomore year. I played varsity baseball that spring and because of PSAL rules I was not allowed to run outdoor track in the same season. After not running track I realized that I missed it and wanted to focus solely on track going forward. That summer I created and committed to a running plan which greatly increased my mileage. It was hard training on my own, but I made sure to get all of my runs in and upped my weekly mileage by 15-20 miles. All this hard work paid off this past cross country season as I had many pr’s, taking my personal record for the 5k from 19:24 down to 17:33. I was grateful to be named captain of my track team where I led the workouts, helped rally the team, and for the first time in school history we qualified as a team for the PSAL Varsity XC NY City Championships!

My goal is to run in college and be on a team that will push me to be the best version of myself. I take great pride in my academics and have carried a 4.0 throughout high school where I've tried to keep challenging myself. This meant taking many AP classes (including AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC), as well as being a part of my school's advanced science research program where I worked on projects in the fields of rocketry and aerodynamics. I found a running coach when I felt I needed help to reach some of my goals and I have learned a great deal from him. My dream is to work with a college coaching team that will propel me further in my pursuit of continued growth and success. My favorite part of track is that whether it is a workout or a race you are trying to be faster than you were the day before. Always trying to run that extra mile, endure a little more pain, because even though there will be competitors, it’s always you against yourself.  I'm very excited for my college experience where I will continue pushing myself to improve on and off the track.