BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School’s track and field program received a $1,000 donation from Team Florida Track Club, which was presented to student-athletes, coaches and administrators on Jan. 13 by Team FTC board member Stirling Myles.
The Gainesville-based Team FTC was founded by 2004 KHHS graduate Enoch Nadler and his wife, Angela. Nadler, who enjoyed a standout athletic career at the University of Florida, said Team FTC, which offers coaching and evaluation, has grown from 300 members around the onset of the pandemic to 600 today.
“The Florida Track Club is thriving, which means we’re able to make an impact,” Nadler said.
As for being able to support the track and field program at his high school alma mater, Nadler said, “It’s really meaningful to give back in that way.”
KHHS Principal Laurie Burke said, “When you have been successful as a graduate and you give back to your community, it’s more than just a donation. You are giving back as an alumnus to the school to make it better for the kids who are now here. You just can’t replace that. That is just an amazing thing for someone to do.”
Nadler has worked with KHHS track and cross country runners in the past and was invited to talk to the current student-athletes by KHHS Coach Chris Thomas. Thomas said all he wanted was for the student-athletes to have the chance to talk and listen to someone who was once in their shoes. It was value enough for student-athletes to hear from someone who enjoyed competitive success in high school and after high school and is successful in life.
“An alumnus giving $1,000? It’s beyond words,” Thomas said when asked what the donation meant. “It’s beyond what I was prepared for. It’s beyond what I was looking for.”
The monetary gift adds to what has been an exciting year for the KHHS track and field program. A new rubber-surface track was installed as part of a Clay County School District project, replacing the asphalt track that was installed in 1977.
Since then, the track received little in the way of improvements.
“I don’t think there was anything ever done to it, other than maybe painting the lines one time,” KHHS Athletic Director Chuck Dickinson said.
Thomas, who believes the new track will entice more students to become involved in track and field, said, “This is a long time coming. We went from asphalt with potholes to a brand-spanking-new, updated, rubberized track with brand-new lines. It’s clean. It looks good. It feels good.”
Burke, who was a standout in track and field when she was a student at KHHS, said it warms her heart to see the new track.
“It is fantastic,” she said. “Going back on my track days, the only time I ran on rubber tracks was basically at district, regional and state runs. To have it at my home is amazing.
“I’m a little jealous because it was always fun running on a rubber track.”
Though the school isn’t ready to begin hosting track and field meets this year, it plans on doing so in 2024, which would mark the first time that has happened since the 1990s.
Still, that doesn’t mean the new track isn’t useful in 2023. Nadler said track athletes now have a safer, better surface to train on.
“It’s not fighting an uphill battle like when I was there,” Nadler said, adding that the track was probably used more by driver’s ed students than track athletes when he was at KHHS.
Thomas is excited, saying, “This is going to help us, actually, with our speed because you rebound off this rubber track. It’s so much faster than the old asphalt-style track. This is where everybody’s at. This puts us — Keystone — on the same level as all the higher schools we compete against.”
Though Nadler participated in track and field (and cross country) at UF, he said it’s nice to see KHHS have a track that won’t prevent student-athletes from setting high goals.
“It’s hard to really dream big when you don’t have the facilities (to support that dream),” Nadler said.
Thomas said the Team FTC donation will help purchase equipment so that KHHS can be in a position to host track and field meets. For example, the school has probably enough hurdles for one or two lanes, and those don’t adjust in height like they should, Thomas said.
Work on the new track began in July 2022. To accommodate the project, the school didn’t host a football game until the fourth week of the season. After football season, the work was completed, with the school’s soccer teams playing all their games away until this month.
The project also included the installation of fencing and sidewalks.
“Hopefully, it’s something the school takes pride in,” Dickinson said.
