Saint Lawrence University track athlete Ian Clough ’21 placed ninth in the 60-meter dash at the NCAA national championships on March 8. Clough ran fast enough during the indoor track season to earn the honor of competing at the NCAA national championships, which were held at the Reggie Louis Center in Boston, Mass. Clough ended the season one place away from receiving All-American status. Carly Stein, one of the assistant coaches of the track team, puts emphasis on the importance of Ian’s attitude at practice. “If you can bring a little bit of positivity to any of those days it is helpful, and it seems to me that Ian tries to do that for himself,” said Stein.
By showing up to every practice with a good attitude, Stein believes that Clough sets himself up well to reach his potential and puts himself in a good spot mentally, setting himself up to improve when he works on his athletic craft. In addition to bringing a positive attitude to practice every day, head-coach of the track team, John Newman, believes that Clough is successful because of his competitive nature. “I think that competitiveness is probably the main thing we see from him day in and day out and just striving to be at his best physical condition he can and trying to be in a good mindset going into races,” said Newman.
Coach Newman believes that with his competitive desire, it is only a matter of time until Clough is able to reach the honor of becoming an All-American by placing in the top eight at the NCAA national championships. Senior Captain, Andrew Brush ’19, feels that in addition to a competitive nature and a positive attitude, Clough is able to succeed because of his willingness to listen to his teammates and coaches. “He’s always open to advice and talking to anyone about anything, just the openness he has is great,” Brush said. Brush believes that by being willing to listen to teammates and coaches and take valuable advice from them, Clough opens himself up to a much greater amount of potentially helpful knowledge possessed by other members of the team.
Charlie Cahillane ’21 has been teammates with Clough for many years, since they went to high school together, and feels that Clough has been a great teammate at every step of his track career. “He’s been a leader on the team, people look up to him and he’s really developed to become an inspiration to a lot of people that are around him, especially now at Saint Lawrence” said Cahillane.
Cahillane believes that although Clough has done many things to better himself as a track athlete, it is important to note that he also serves as a leader and helps the team around him in many ways on a daily basis.Although Clough has had a great amount of individual success in the sport, the thing that truly matters to him is not how successful he is, but how track affects his life. “Track is a source of enjoyment, and it’s a source of staying in shape, keeping healthy but it’s also a source of being social and creating good friendships, and I think those friendships will last a long time,” said Clough.
To Clough, times are important, but he commits to doing his absolute best in track because of how it has a crucial role in many aspects of his life.