Maryland’s Myers leads between the lines, while racing down the clock.
Maryland junior track and field captain and computer science major Maxwell Myers sets the pace for his opponents. (Maryland Athletics)
Runners… on your mark.
Get set…
BANG!
A bang that alerts sprinters to leap off their marks and race down white pasted “asphalt-bound” lanes at breathtaking speeds. An adrenaline-filled beginning to a foot race that dates back to the 1800’s. In 2012, the “silent-pistol,” that emits an electronic beep, was introduced to equalize the start for all runners along the curve.
Maryland Track and Field head coach Andrew Valmon, who enters his 19th season at the helm, has produced 54 All-American award-winning student-athletes. The 2x Olympic Gold medalist, has elevated Maryland’s athletic and academic excellence, since joining the Terrapins in 2003. Maryland’s men’s team earned the highest team GPA award in 2018 and 2019, following the women’s cross country team owning this award for five straight years between 2013 to 2017.
Maxwell Myers is a junior computer science major, who was voted to captain by his teammates and coaches at the start of this year. Myers is a middle-distance runner, who ran the first leg in the record setting 4x800m Penn Relay event. Myers handed the baton to freshman Eric Albright at 1:54.04, surging his team on course to break the previous program record set in 2010.
“It's bigger than us as a team and I think that's why those middle-distance guys are doing so well. Max, Eric, Chase and Solomon are going to get together at Penn Relays on Saturday and look for something special,” said Valmon on a Wednesday afternoon practice leading up to the 2022 Penn Relays.
The University of Pennsylvania hosts top collegiate track programs at Franklin Field, for a three-day festival. Valmon set the expectations high for his 4x800m team, including junior Max Myers, freshman Eric Albright, junior Chase McGeehan and senior Solomon Lawrence.
The men’s relay team finished at 7:32.41, snatching the previous 7:33 4x800m program record. Myers' 1:54.04 first leg finish was a few seconds shy of his sophomore year 800m personal best, 1:51.9.
Maxwell Myers weaves through his opponents in the first leg of the Men’s 4x800m event. Myers set the tone for a record setting 7:32.41 finish at the 2022 Penn Relays. (Maxwell Myers)
Following the festival, Maryland’s men’s 4x800m team’s success owned the spotlight. "Capping off this weekend with a program record was a great way to end the Penn Relays weekend. I am looking forward to continuing to advance our performances in the coming weeks,” Valmon said in a press conference following Penn Relays in April.
In a series of virtual interviews held over a two-week span, Myers expressed his undeniable desire to make a difference and change the culture of Maryland’s program. “I would say the way I had worked [in high school], from a track perspective, I knew college training would be much more difficult.”
Myers faced athletic and academic challenges upon his arrival to the university. Myers posted two personal bests as a freshman, in the 600m (1:20.36) and 800m (1:54.06) but knew his ceiling was much higher. “Once I got to college, I realized, your education matters just as much as athletics. I PR’d my freshman year but to me, I wasn't satisfied with the times I was running initially, because I felt like I had a lot more potential,” he said.
“In high school, I could get away with not really thinking about my race plan and just going out there, running and winning. But I got here [Maryland] and sometimes I'll be racing and I'd get nervous because I'm racing on a much bigger stage,” said Myers. It took me a while to get over the mentality of being in those circumstances.”
“I think probably the biggest thing is his patience for success. Max came in pretty good, but there are a lot of kids who came in a little higher and you got to be able to go from step one to two to three to four,” said Valmon commenting on Myers collegiate progression.
Gerald Norgbe, a junior triple jumper, joined the program with Myers in 2020. Norgbe has experienced Myers’ collegiate maturation, noting Myers’ ability to “shine,” while taking the “lead on pressing matters,” like the team’s end of the year apparel.
Kameron Jones, a former Maryland track star with 10 personal bests, two in which are school records in the 300m and 600m, nurtured Myers at the start of his Maryland campaign. Jones graduated in 2020 and is competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Norgbe said, “for the time I was just an observer, Max was always vocal. Max has always been vocal whether or not he’s performing well, he's underperforming or he's going through an injury. He was always willing to say something on behalf of the team.”
With a mentor of Jones’ caliber, teammates and coaches of Myers’, said his procession to captain was inevitable. “It's kind of like, since you just naturally assumed that position, from freshman year, as being the most vocal of the freshmen, it just carried on and more people started to refer to Max, as that, like vocal leader,” said Norgbe, as he smiled at Myers, in a virtual interview.
Valmon has had an instrumental role in his athlete’s success, having a keen eye for greatness. In the summer of 2012, Valmon reached the highest level of his coaching career, earning the head coach position of USATF for the London Olympic games. Team USA earned 29 medals, including nine gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals.
“Max sometimes wants to go from one to six, which is a great characteristic of the young person who wants it all. He embodies that self-discipline but you also have to be able to take those steps necessary to get to the top,” said Valmon, who admires the junior captain’s self-discipline, which has shaped his ability to lead by example. “Max can never be faulted for holding back. Max leaves it on the track. He's a pure characteristic of leading, leaving it on the track and that's what you see. Regardless of what physical shape he's in, he leaves it on the track.”
Valmon emphasizes the importance of having a balance on and off the track, a characteristic that he says Myers resembles.
“I would say that the biggest thing is balance. You have to be able to know when to push the envelope. But you also have to be true to yourself. I think that the defining characteristic for a leader now is being able to be true to yourself but also know how to galvanize others and move people,” he said.
The nurturing roles have reversed for Myers, as he rounds his third lap of his college career. His teammates and coaches highlight his ability to articulate himself while delivering messages or assisting younger players in their own collegiate progression. “I think the few characteristics come down to having a good filter, having an understanding of how to deliver a message and also who's your audience,” said Valmon.
“Understanding your audience is key,” said Valmon. Delivering a well-received message is a mantra that Valmon reiterates consistently in his program because he understands challenges that student-athletes face when interacting with the “older generation.”
“For me personally, it's how he delivers messages,” said Valmon as he salutes Myers’ ability to articulate himself. At the start of each year, Myers owned the responsibility to voice new gear and apparel requests on behalf of the team. “I told him to go back to his group and articulate what he thought was best for the student athletes and he did a great job. He came back and it was clear that the message he delivered to us we could hear, and I think it's one thing to say it, it's another thing for somebody to be able to hear it.”
Aside from leading the front lines for team improvements, Myers finds himself as a role model for freshman Albright, who ran the second leg in the record-breaking men’s 4x800m Penn relay. “I could say, Max’s want to be on the team propelled him. We put some challenges in front of them if you want to be on the team. And every time we put a challenge in front of him, he met it,” said Valmon, describing moments of how Myers embodies captain-like qualities. “I think that's kind of where we are. We have a young freshman on our team that Max has taken under his wing. And I think that's what leadership is about. It's not just about you.”
Track was not always an emphasis in Myers’ vision for his collegiate success. In high school, Myers played football at Howard High School in Howard County, Maryland, until being cut from the team his sophomore year. Myer’s father and older siblings, Earl and Taylor Myers uplifted his confidence with words of encouragement that led him to taking track seriously, going into his junior year.
As his love for football dampened, track quickly filled the missing void. Myers first started out on the lower JV level. “I ran indoors and I wasn't great. I remember my PRs for my indoor freshman year. I ran 69 seconds in the 400m. I ran 47 seconds in the 300m and 26 seconds in the 200m. I was pretty bad. I was terrible actually,” he recalled.
Talon Campbell, a two-time indoor state champion at Reservoir High School and a well-respected rival to Myers, raced in the 2019 Hispanic Games Invitational at Bank Track in New York, New York. This was one of the final races the rival took place, in which Myers edged out Campbell by a hundredth of a second in a 400m showdown.
“We were both in the 400m race and to this day it makes me sick that he beat me by hundredth of a second,” said Campbell in a virtual interview, as he reminisced about the defining moment. “I definitely knew Max was behind me, it was inevitable. I am fighting him off, fighting him off and then he edged me out right at the line.”
Campbell said, “I definitely got relief from that haunting when I realized Max continued his track career at Maryland. At least I did not lose to a scrub, you know,” with a smile on his face.
Howard High School senior Maxwell Myers edges out cross county rival Talon Campbell from Reservoir High School in the Men’s 400m event at the 2019 Hispanic Games Invitational in New York (Maxwell Myers)
Myers concluded his high school track campaign with an abundance of accolades. He was the indoor 500m State Champion, indoor and outdoor Howard High School 800m record holder, Howard High School record holder for the 4x400m relay, Howard County Indoor Athlete of the Year, indoor Howard County Champion in the 500m, 800m, and 4x400m relay, Maryland 4A 2019 Regional Champion in the 500m, Howard County meet record holder in 4x400m relay and was a member of Howard High School National Honor Society.
“Everything starts to go from dropping so fast to leveling out, because you're getting towards your potential. That's when the aspects of life — your mentality, what you eat, your nutrition and your habits all start to make the smallest differences in how you perform,” said Myers.