Many school records have been broken during the 2023-24 school year and one could be broken very soon and here’s the story behind what it took these athletes to get to this point in their career and how it felt to them.
Starting near the beginning of the year is the receiving football star, Jake Willis (‘25) who broke the records of, All-Time Career Receiving Yards and Receiving Touchdowns. He put a lot of work into getting to this point in his career. He made sure to trust in the process and stay dedicated to the task at hand. A few of his games didn’t look like they were going to get him to the records but when the first playoff game came around, Willis put up the numbers and broke both records in one game which helped the football team win the first round of playoffs. He has never felt discouraged while playing sports because, “My dad,” Willis said, “He’s been my biggest supporter football-wise and just pushing me every day.”
With many close attempts over the years, cross country runner Brooke Henkin (‘25), beats the school record time of 18:56.9 for running the 5K with her time of 18:49.3. She had been training all summer and pushing towards this goal. During her race, she was having some doubts but she reminded herself that she had put in all this training and had to push through. During a few workouts during her training period she had some slower runs but each time she pushed through and worked hard on the next one. Henkin has had many supporters over the years like her “teammates just for supporting me during it,” Henkin said, and “definitely my coach Murray because he has gotten me to where I am now.”
Also having records in football that led into his basketball season, Leyton Martin (‘25) broke the records, for football, he got the most passing touchdowns in a single season, and, for basketball, he got the most points in a game, most points in a season, and fastest to 1000 points.
He’s always putting in work outside of the sport and putting trust in his teammates and coaches. He personally had a setback in the middle of his sophomore year of football when he broke his arm in half and had to get surgery. To get back to where he wanted to be, he had to put in a lot of work and time.
“My family, coaches, and players I have played with,” Martin said, have all helped him get to this point in his career.
Creating his own record, Tre Haines (‘26), is the only one in Arlington High School’s wrestling history to become a 2 time state champion, especially since it was back to back his freshman and sophomore year. He has put in a lot of hard work and sacrifices to get to this point. He had a huge setback before districts this year, having a torn meniscus and he had no idea if he was going to be able to wrestle that match.
“It felt amazing,” Haines said. “It didn’t really hit ‘till a few days after, then once I realized I was the first one to do this in Arlington history.”
He always thanks his coaches and partners he has wrestled against that have brought him to being able to achieve this record. He is putting a lot of work into the offseason to make sure he is ready to get it for the third time.
Looking for his first record to break, Dylan Scott (‘25), is working hard every day to get to the shot put record of 58’ 5.5” in 2013 and the discus record of 181’ 8” in 2012, held by Arlington High Schools math teacher, Dan Boyden. Scott puts in a crazy amount of work in the last offseason by working out 6 days a week for 2 hours a day. He added plenty of shot put and discus-specific training to make sure he was ready for the upcoming season.
He has to wait until next season in 2025 to be able to break this record yet many of his supporters are still pushing him to getting the record like, “My dad,” Scott said, “He got me into working out but also Caleb Reed, he would give me rides every day to the gym… pushing each other each and every day and for my dad, he was right there supporting me the whole time.”
