Insider: With track, there's always something to write about. Here are 2 unlikely stories.

It has probably been almost 20 years since I covered as much track and field as I have this spring. While I’ll never fill the big shoes of colleague David Woods on the track beat (Woodsy feeds me information like Magic fed Kareem, though I’m probably bricking the sky hooks) and won’t pretend to, this has been an enjoyable change of pace.

From Martinsville’s Martin Barco upsetting Carmel national champion Kole Mathison in mid-April at the Flashes Distance Showcase to Warren Central junior Laila Smith returning from injury to shine to Plainfield’s Bode Gilkerson breaking a 45-year-old high jump record to Park Tudor senior Jasiah Rogers audibly wowing the crowd with a 10.30-second 100-meter time in the regional, there have been plenty of awesome performances to cover.

The fun thing about track and field is there is always something to write about. Which brings me to Perry Meridian’s Richard Dube and North Central’s Lee Martin, a couple of basketball players turned track athletes.

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I’ll start with Dube, who ran his final 400 at the regional meet at Lawrence Central. The senior finished fifth, running a 50.86 to finish just out of contention for a state bid. But it was difficult for Dube or Perry Meridian track coach Ryan Teverbaugh to look at his experience as anything but a wild success.

Teverbaugh watched Dube play basketball as a junior and recruited him to track to compete in the high jump. At a meet against Franklin Central, Teverbaugh threw Dube into the 4x400 relay just to see what would happen.

“He gets the baton and we’re down probably 50 meters and he just starts ripping,” Teverbaugh said. “All the coaches are sitting there like, ‘He’s going to die.’ He didn’t. He ends up winning it, walks off the track and he’s like, ‘Coach, that wasn’t that hard. So we said, ‘OK, you’re going to be a 400 runner now.’”

Dube, so to speak, took the baton and just kept running. He did not give up on basketball, either. Dube was one of coach Mark James’ best players on a team that struggled in the win-loss department, averaging 8.3 points and 3.7 rebounds as a junior and 10.0 points and 3.6 assists as a senior. Dube, who Teverbaugh called “one of the most positive young men I’ve ever been around,” said he was on the fence about even trying track.

“I did track in seventh grade for one meet,” he said. “I did the hurdles and broke my wrist. So then I stopped.”

But a second chance proved fruitful for Dube, who admitted he had no expectations going into last spring other than to get into shape for basketball. But while track can be grueling mentally and physically, Dube dealt with personal loss at a young age when his father, Fiet Dube, died in his sleep at age 51 in 2016.

Richard was in fifth grade at the time of his father’s death.

“I was pretty banged up about it,” Dube said. “I feel like it affected me throughout my life, having a single mother (Lillian) trying to help me out, which she managed to do. Sports helped me do it, too. Sports took my mind off a lot of things. I’ll always still think about him and what life would be like if he was still here, but I feel like I’m in a lot better place now.”

Dube’s goal was to get his college paid for through college basketball, though that path changed. One of Perry Meridian’s girls track senior standouts, Maya Mundy, committed to Marian University for track and will run the 400 in the girls’ state meet.

“Maya persuaded me to go to Marian,” said Dube, who was homecoming king and Male Athlete of the Year at Perry. “So I said, ‘I might as well give it a try.’ The goal was to get college paid for, which I think track brought me that opportunity.”

It was a similar story for North Central’s Martin, who has even less track and field experience than Dube. Martin told his father, also named Lee Martin, he would come out for track after his senior year of basketball. But when that time rolled around, the younger Martin was having second thoughts.

“After the season, I didn’t really want to run track anymore,” Martin said. “I was going to rest and get a job and start training and try to get ready to play somewhere in college (for basketball).”

Martin’s basketball teammates, junior Christian Woodson and sophomore Denhm Holt, were coming out for track. He decided to give it a shot. But one practice with the long jumpers was enough.

“I was getting sand all over, in my shoes and everything,” he said. “So I figured the high jump would be much more simple. I wouldn’t say I knew I would be good at it, but it was more simple. I knew I could jump vertically.”

Martin, who is 6-3, started out slowly. He watched YouTube videos to learn technique and watch other high jumpers. At the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference indoor meet in March, he jumped 5-8. But just two weeks later, at the first outdoor meet of the season, Martin went 6-4. And a month later, at the MIC outdoor meet, he won with a 6-6 jump.

Right away, Martin said he could feel a camaraderie with other jumpers that was a little different than anything he had experienced.

“It’s a different kind of community,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere, a little more interactive between the other schools. You kind of make friends with everyone.”

The trajectory of Martin’s life essentially changed in the past several weeks. He is now planning to attend Purdue and compete on the track team. He jumped 6-6 again at the regional and will go into the state meet tied for seventh in a group that is all chasing defending state champion Bode Gilkerson of Plainfield, who has cleared 7 feet twice this season.

“I still love basketball,” Martin said. “I’ve been playing since kindergarten. If there is walk-on tryouts or something like that, I’d love to do it. I wouldn’t say I’ve given up on it. But if not, I’ll focus on track.”

As Dube and Martin proved, it’s never too late to try to something new.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA track and field: Richard Dube, Lee Martin experience success