Upload a Photo Upload a Video Add a News article Write a Blog Add a Comment
Blog Feed News Feed Video Feed All Feeds

Folders

Featured (1723)
All (1940)
 

 

Drew Windle's parents reflect on son's journey to USA team

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jul 8th 2017, 12:47am
Comments

Windles reflect on what's gone into Drew's breakout season

By Brian Towey for DyeStat

As Drew Windle sped past Erik Sowinski to win the men’s 800 meters at the TrackTown Summer Series finale Thursday at Icahn Stadium, Windle’s parents, Kenny and Karen, stood alongside the track and watched.

It’s been just over a year since Windle, a former All-American at Division II Ashland College in Ohio, began his professional career with the Seattle-based Brooks Beasts.

At the USATF Championships final June 25 in Sacramento, Windle claimed the third spot on the United States roster to compete Aug. 4-13 at the IAAF World Championships in London, finishing in 1 minute, 44.95 seconds behind Donovan Brazier and Penn State’s Isaiah Harris.

“I’m surprised I’m still running this well,” said Windle following the TrackTown final race, edging Sowinski by a 1:44.63 to 1:44.66 margin to give Portland the win and nine points.

“The national championships take a lot out of you physically, mentally and emotionally."

Windle’s USATF championship performance capped an improbable rise for the native of Westerville, Ohio, just outside Columbus. With a sprig of kinky hair and a down-to-earth manner, Windle has stormed the middle-distance ranks with his hard-closing style.

Yet, it’s a journey that almost never happened.

“He was a football player in high school,” said Kenny Windle, an account executive with an insurance agency in Westerville.

“A tight end. He was a 6-3, 185 pound football player.”

As a track athlete at New Albany High, Windle’s track marks were modest.

“As a junior, he only broke two minutes in the 800 once,” Kenny Windle said. “When he was a senior, he’d only run 1:57 leading up to the district meet (outdoors). Then he ran 1:51.9 to win the Ohio State Division I championship. By that time, he’d already committed to Ashland College. He’d really connected with Ashland’s distance coach, Trent Mack.”

Windle went on to become an eight-time national champion and 15-time All-American at Ashland. Following college, he earned an opportunity to run with the Brooks Beasts, an outfit that featured six-time national champion Nick Symmonds.

“It took him a year to get acclimated,” Kenny Windle said. “(He’s done it with) Danny Mackey’s coaching and the Brooks Beast team thing.

And with Nick Symmonds’ mentorship,” added Karen Windle, Drew’s mother. “That’s helped him a lot.”

Windle’s strength comes from his family. One of four siblings in a tightly knit Windle clan, he’s leaned on Kenny and Karen – and the rest of his family – for stability through his track career.

“Their support has been gigantic,” Windle said. “My parents have missed one track meet in my entire career. That’s when my nephew (their grandchild) was born.”

Kenny and Karen drove out to the meet in Kenny’s Camaro to New York.

“We drive anywhere east of Colorado,” Kenny Windle said. “We went out to Sacramento twice when he was in college.”

But for their next planned trip, to the World Championships, the Camaro won’t cut it.

The Windle family has set up a Gofundme.com page, “Windles to World Championships” to raise $8,000 for the airfare and expenses. So far they’ve raised $3,470 toward their goal.

“(Kenny) keeps saying, ‘We’re going to get there,’” Karen Windle said. “But only two members of our family have passports right now. We’re doing the rush service on our passports and keeping our fingers crossed.”

So far, according to Drew, the money raised is enough only to cover airfare for a few family members.

“It’s my mom and dad, my brother and his fiancé and my sister and her husband,” Drew said.

Windle’s competitiveness comes from his siblings.

“My brother and sister always had to do chores when I was 10 years old,” Windle said. “Whenever they wanted to get out of chores they would ask me, ‘How fast can you do it?’

“I got my competitiveness from them.”

But without that immediate support network as he trains with the Beasts in Seattle, the team’s structure has been crucial.

“He’s 2,500 miles away from us,” Kenny Windle said. “The Beast team thing has helped him a lot. They eat lunch together every day at the company’s headquarters and then go train.”

The life of a professional track athlete can be an unglamorous grind.

“No one knows how much work they put into this (to get the results),” Kenny Windle said.

Added Karen Windle: “No one knows the hard work.”

Beneath the flood lights Thursday at Icahn Stadium, bearing pins with their son’s picture that said “Run like the Windle,” the Windles celebrated Drew’s unlikely success story. And they’re doing it one meet at time.

“They made it here just in time,” Drew said following Thursday’s race. “It’s the first time I’ve seen them since Christmas. Then it’s back to training.”



More news

History for DyeStat.com
YearVideosNewsPhotosBlogs
2024 991 320 12408  
2023 5382 1361 77508  
2022 4892 1212 58684  
Show 25 more
 
+PLUS highlights
+PLUS coverage
Live Events
Get +PLUS!