After cut from basketball team, Lincoln-Sudbury's Sholk among state's fastest runners
SUDBURY – His coach calls him a “low stick” guy, vernacular for a high-ranking in this sport.
Ethan Sholk hit a different low last December when he was cut from the Lincoln-Sudbury basketball team. But halfway through this cross-country season, among the questions surrounding his blossoming talent is: how low can you go?
“We actually don’t know what he’s capable of doing,” L-S cross country coach Melvin Gonsalves said.
Sholk, a junior, is capable of vast improvement. A 69-second upgrade from his final 5,000-meter time last fall to this season’s debut at the Ocean State Invitational. A month ago, he finished 24 seconds behind Dual County League frontrunner Paul Bergeron of Westford Academy at L-S' 4,000-meter course.
On Wednesday, not only did Sholk shave 30 seconds off his previous time, he took down the course record Bergeron (12:52) set on Sept. 13. The new mark belongs to Sholk, who ran a 12:46 in a meet that also included Concord-Carlisle and Boston Latin.
“That was the goal coming into the race,” he said after finishing 51 seconds ahead of C-C's Thomas Rivier.
Sholk led the entire race and was by himself for every stride. Or was he? When asked what kept him motivated when there was no one to chase down, Sholk envisioned the other elite competition across the region.
“Just knowing that there are other guys out there working harder than me,” he said. “I try to push myself to work even harder and go faster than them. Focus on more than just the race.”
Sholk finished a modest 77th at last fall’s state cross-country championships at Devens before tryouts began for basketball. But he was cut. He quickly pivoted and ran indoor and outdoor track. (He ran cross-country and outdoor track as a freshman).
When he returned to Devens on Oct. 7 for the Bay State Invitational, his competition included two runners from Brookline, a team ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 4 in the Northeast by DyeStat.
After leading for most of the race, Sholk was briefly caught from behind, but countered with his closing kick to win in 15:50. He ran 16:57 on the same course 11 months ago.
“I love speed,” he said Wednesday.
That basketball cut isn’t so deep.
“I was disappointed in myself, then I fell in love with running,” he admitted.
Sholk sets course record; Huck wins girls’ race
Before Sholk took off, Charlotte Huck put in her own dominating performance. The senior won Wednesday’s race in 15:51, 43 seconds ahead of runner-up Maria Chopas of Concord-Carlisle.
Huck’s time bettered her performance from the last time L-S ran at home (Sept. 13) by 47 seconds.
Later that afternoon, Sholk had Bergeron’s record on his mind from the gun.
“I knew it was 12:52 and my plan was to take it out 5-flat (5-minute mile pace), come to the 2-mile in 10 (minutes) and that’s kind of what I did,” he said. “I knew coming into the race that I would be leading the pack almost by myself. I just stuck with it and pushed.”
Sholk 'glad' basketball cut led to running career
Running alone is nothing new.
“He’s self-governed,” Gonsalves said. “He has to set the pace for himself. He doesn’t care about what the parameters are in terms of getting better. He just goes after it.”
The next time Sholk competes, however, he will have company. The Dual County League championships on Oct. 20 at Franklin Park will include Bergeron and Jack Graffeo of Westford Academy, who both finished ahead of Sholk at L-S last month.
But after Wednesday’s course-record performance, Sholk will have confidence that he may be able to hang with the Stanford-bound Bergeron, who was last year’s Division 1 state champ.
“When I first raced him this year, he made a move and I couldn’t keep up with him,” Sholk said. “Coming here today and breaking his record, I know that I can run with him now. I know he works hard and that motivates me to work harder.”
His winters no longer include basketball. But the transition from setting picks to low stick has been as quick as his finishing times this fall. Getting cut set in motion a running career that Sholk aspires to turn into a Division 1 college career.
“I’m actually glad it happened now,” he said.
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Ethan Sholk of Lincoln-Sudbury among state's best distance runners
