North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week gets redemption in biggest race of the year
In a moment, he went from being on the verge of making history to athletic devastation. A year later, he got redemption.
Tyler Caswell became the first Group 1 boy to win a 55 hurdles title in nearly 20 years, and the first Glen Rock athlete to ever win an indoor state hurdles championship, on Saturday, three days after he set a meet record in winning the same event at the Bergen County championships.
It was almost exactly a year to the day when he false-started in the 2023 Group 1 final, when he appeared ready to become the first North Jersey sophomore to win a state hurdles title.
"This means everything to me," the soft-spoken Caswell said. "I thought about that race every day in practice since it happened and it motivated me all the time. I needed to redeem myself."
According to Glen Rock coach Stacie Gallo, all that history never would have happened if Caswell had followed his first instincts when he came out for track as a freshman in 2022.
"He had come to our track camp when he was younger and he was able to get over the hurdles pretty easily," Gallo said. "He came for cross-country in the fall and he had a good time, but when he went out for winter track, I could see how fast he was. So I asked him to try the hurdles again."
Caswell balked.
"I knew I wanted to do track in high school because I knew I was fast but I really didn't want to do hurdles," Caswell. "But Coach Gallo insisted."
By the end of his freshman spring season, he was the John Gallione Bergen freshman champion in both the 110 and 400 hurdles, and reached the North 1, Group 2 finals in the former event.
By the time he got to Toms River last winter, he was the fourth-ranked sophomore in the state and was the co-favorite with Metuchen's Vedant Naik to win the Group 1 title.
Then disaster struck with the first false start of his career.
He knew immediately he had jumped early and didn't even wait for the official notification as he sadly looked at his blocks and carried them away. Naik won the race and the title.
"It was just a bummer," Caswell said. "But I had to treat it as a learning experience."
Gallo agreed. "I let him cool down and then I told him, it could be worse. He could have been a senior and this could have been his last race. I think he got the message."
Three-hundred-sixty-four days later, Caswell, this time with teammate Ryan Wolfe securing his blocks behind him, settled into his lane with Naik on his left again. The Glen Rock junior got the best start of his career, beating the defending champion by .2 seconds, the equivalent of a blow out in the short race.
Other than throwing his arms out as he crossed the line, he showed little emotion.
"I knew my speed and technique were better than they were a year ago," he said. "I knew I'd the work and I knew I'd get the benefits."
"His drive and determination is second to none," Gallo said. "And even though he's understated, he's one of our best leaders, too. He's just touching his potential."
And making history every time he runs.
Tyler Caswell
Sport: Indoor track and field
School: Glen Rock
Class: Junior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: He won both the Bergen County and Group 1 55-hurdles championships last week, running the fastest time in North Jersey and qualifying for the State Meet of Champions.
Also nominated: Zach Schweid of Demarest and Caden Flower of Wayne Valley for basketball; Jake Wacha of Pascack Hills for wrestling; Sam Lorenc of Rutherford for swimming; and Andrew Jeremiah Boakye of Bergen Catholic and Luke Pash of Ridgewood for indoor track and field.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Male Athlete of the Week: Tyler Caswell, Glen Rock
