Over the last several years, Silo seniors Ashton Davis and Shawn Weaver have been part of a fledgling Rebel track program that set school firsts this spring with eight state qualifiers accounting for 18 regional medals.
Davis and Weaver each made the most of that success, joining teammate Juan Flores in recently garnering college scholarships to compete at the next level.
Coming off a campaign in which he broke the SHS school record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:02.21, Davis is heading to Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva. Weaver and Flores, meanwhile, will look to be front runners on a brand-new cross-country program at Murray State College.
“Ashton was a strong mid distance runner for us and his speed helped us tremendously in track and cross country,” said head coach Maggie Rose. “He overcame long odds against him this season and we are proud of his All-Star title in cross country and his fifth placed finish that landed him on the podium for track in the 800 meters.
“Shawn was a good leader for our younger freshman and sophomore kids to look up to, along with his help with keeping the younger pups keep on track of their mileage will be missed tremendously. He is a great leader and a great Christian athlete to look up to and we will deeply miss him.”
Davis’ time of 17:49.91 in the cross-country state meet last fall placed him 29th out of 159 runners in Class 3A.
He admitted at one point he thought the hope of running at the college level might not happen but with the progression over the final two years of his high school career it became a reality.
“I’ve been running since my freshman year and it’s really an amazing feeling to be able to keep doing it in college, I can’t even explain it,” Davis commented. “I will probably run the 800 and mile in track and maybe the 1600 meters. The coach at Northwestern really connected well with me and I felt like that was a great opportunity for me to get a lot more personal attention. I just want to get better and faster and do the best I can do there.”
Weaver, meanwhile, is coming off a personal best time of 18:38.57 in last fall’s state cross country meet that placed him 58th.
In college, he will have the opportunity to focus and practice at one sport only instead of having to split time as a dual sport athlete at Silo after starting cross country in his sophomore year.
“It feels great to be able to continue on into college for a sport that’s really not that big here at Silo,” Weaver said. “I knew some people going to Murray, so it kind of made me think that might be a possibility.
“I am really excited about the new environment and new platform at Murray. It’s really an amazing opportunity. Coach Rose just pushed me and pushed me to be better and better every time out. Hopefully we can continue on with that at Murray and do something that has never been done before. We’re going to try and set the standards high in the first year of the program.”
