All-First Coast boys cross country: Nease's double champion Matt Ryan broke 15-minute mark
For Matt Ryan, running is all about finding the right balance.
Driven for victory, yes, but also enjoying the journey along the way.
"I think it's really easy to think super negative, and that'll really hurt your performance," he said. "That's been the biggest learning curve. If you have fun with [running], it's usually going to be good."
A Sunshine State champion both as an individual and with his St. Johns County teammates, the Nease senior is the Times-Union's All-First Coast boys cross country runner of the year for 2023.
Ryan helped the Panthers win the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4A championship at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee. Then, once the regular season wrapped up, he ran Northeast Florida's fastest time of the year with a 14:56.09 at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, N.C.
"He's so driven," Nease coach Ted DeVos said, "you've got to make sure you don't get in his way."
BREAKTHROUGH TO THE TOP
Ryan said he got his running start early, participating with his father in a few local 5K runs, but it took a while for distance racing to really move into pole position in his athletic plans. He played soccer until the start of high school before focusing on running.
During the early part of 2022, while returning from an injury that sidelined him in the cross country season, he started to take new steps. Big steps.
"Back in his sophomore season in track, he really started to come on, and you start to think, 'OK, this could really happen, he could do some things,'" DeVos said.
The improvements came fast. In 2022, Ryan raced to the Class 4A individual championship. This fall, he set his sights on helping the Panthers to their first-ever team championship, and once again, it was mission accomplished.
Although he didn't repeat as individual champion, placing third behind Riley Smith of Gainesville Buchholz, he led the team's scoring as Nease finished with 85 points. That placed the Panthers ahead of Gainesville Buchholz with 95, Miami Columbus with 157 and Creekside with 164.
"I enjoyed seeing the progress," Ryan said. "Other sports, you may not see that progress, but in running, progress is quantifiable."
'ABILITY TO DIG DEEPER'
That progress, for Ryan, just keeps coming.
"He's got the ability to dig deeper than anybody else," DeVos said.
Ryan set a new personal best of 15:00.9 in the FSU Invitational in Tallahassee at the end of September. Then, he entered the elusive sub-15 club in late November during the Foot Locker South Regional, joining Creekside's Jimmy Clark and Nease's Rheinhardt Harrison as St. Johns County runners to break 15 minutes.
"I've been chasing that for a little bit, but I didn't even think about that [15-minute mark at Foot Locker] at all. I was just trying to run a competitive race," he said. "When I wasn't thinking about it is when it finally happened."
Beyond high school, Ryan is looking forward to racing in college at Duke. Before then, though, he's got unfinished business in the spring track season. He won a 3,200-meter title last season. This year, he's feeling that drive to go even faster.
"Last year [on the track] wasn't quite the fastest that I could run," he said. "This year, I should be pretty good."
ALL-FIRST COAST BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE YEAR
Matt Ryan
Senior, Nease
Age: 18
Resume: Led Nease to its first-ever boys team cross country championship in Class 4A. … Ran season's fastest Northeast Florida time (14:56.09) at the Foot Locker Cross Country South Regional Championships. … Also won individual Class 4A championship in 2022. … Committed to Duke.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Matt Ryan, Nease: All-First Coast boys cross country runner of year
