Portsmouth High School’s boys track team is gearing up for a competitive spring season.

Coach Mike Lyford led the Clippers boys track team to a State Championship last year in an impressive performance. 

Coach Lyford briefly talked about the team’s senior leaders: “The captains are Avery Crowell, Jake Haley, Ethan Lantz, Brody Parrot, Luke Whistler and Jason Yeaton.” He expects anyone who has been in the program for a couple of years to be a leader. 

“You don’t have to be a captain, you can lead by example, correct behavior that might not be right, and help your friends get better,” explains Lyford. 

It is all about accountability, and Lyford believes “it’s going to be a lot harder than it was last year, but the pieces to win a championship are on the team. I’m looking for effort, dedication, and the best ability availability, and I would add to that reliability.” 

With many talented returning student athletes, like Jake Haley who is committed to Brown and Avery Crowell who is committed to High Point and both running Division I track, a lot of the key pieces remain the same. Former top runner in the state Nate Fletcher is a big missing piece for the team. He now competes at UNH. 

However, not everyone who graduated left the program, like Ahmed Nada for example. He is now an assistant coach for the team, and he decided to come back and help out.

“I thought it was the right thing to do. I was in the area Lyford asked and I felt like giving back to the community that gave to me. I love being here and love doing track, and I felt like coming back and coaching would be a good thing to do,” said Nada.

The boys state championship win last year was the first for the program in recent memory. And while many key pieces like Ahmed Nada and Nate Fletcher are no longer bringing points in matches for the team, Coach Lyford is confident that hard work and dedication the boys could repeat. 

“I think all the tools are there, we have enough athletes to do it, the right quality athletes to do it, we just need everyone to actually know the rules, do their job and be consistent in showing up for practice and good effort,” said Lyford.

Coach Lyford is the driving force behind the team’s success, but he’s not the only key player. The hurdle coach Michael Ferguson loves coaching track and is “trying to find the difference in every athlete and trying to bring out the goodness in each athlete and trying to motivate them to be the best.”

He believes that they have a good chance of winning the state championship; the numbers are certainly encouraging. “They need to work on themselves, what I mean by that is they need to participate in the ritual of track and field and that ritual is showing up to practice doing what they need to do. If they do the ritual that makes room for progress and they are going to improve and that makes happiness.” 

With the first meet coming up soon on April 4th and with solid returning players and coaching the boys look to repeat through hard work and dedication.