Former Northern Colorado runner continues to do what he does best
GREELEY, Colo. (BVM) — To say that Isaiah Remington’s cross country and track career has been a career filled with success would be a massive understatement. The 2020 University of Northern Colorado graduate made huge waves in the local running community not just in college, but also in high school.
Remington’s path to success was not linear. In fact, one could say he began from humble beginnings. Isaiah wouldn’t even be the runner he is today if he hadn’t decided against continuing to pursue football as a sport. However, size and strength were a roadblock for Remington and it ultimately forced him to shift his focus to a new sport.
After quitting football, Remington went out for his cross country team at Yuma High School on the Eastern Plains of Colorado. As a freshman, Remington was about average for any freshman cross country and track athlete. He was able to get his feet wet in a few races and ended the season with personal bests of two minutes, twenty-three seconds in the 800-meter run and 20:31 in the 5,000-meter run in cross country.
After his freshman year at Yuma High, Remington moved to Greeley and started attending Frontier Academy Secondary School. At Frontier, he was introduced to a team with a budding culture of love for running, all spearheaded by head coach Brett Shanklin. Isaiah may have fell in love with the sport back on the plains of Colorado, but Frontier was where it truly bloomed. Coach Shanklin instilled in Remington and all of his athletes’ dedication towards the process, hard work, and team culture all while in the pursuit of team over individual goals. Isaiah bought into this practice and literally hit the ground running.
Buying into this philosophy was one of the reasons Remington saw a huge jump throughout his high school running tenure. In the span of three years at Frontier Academy, Remington became a runner with massive range and caliber. In fact, by his senior year, he had not only improved his times from freshman year by almost half a minute in the 800 and over four in the 5k, but he also was able to qualify and compete at the Colorado state cross country and track championships back-to-back years.
This huge improvement over four years drew the eye of many college coaches, including the coaches at Northern Colorado. Upon graduating in 2016 with a GPA exceeding a 4.0, Remington decided to stay close to home and attend Northern Colorado as part of the cross country and track teams. At Northern Colorado, Remington continued to improve upon his times and see how far he could push his body. His final track season was cut short however this past spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remington could have opted to come back next year to finish his last season of track eligibility, but instead decided to graduate with a degree in psychology with a minor in coaching and political science.
Remington’s running career does not stop there, however. Since this past March when Remington’s running season was canceled, he has continued to train like he is a college athlete. Running on average around 70 miles with two workouts a week, Remington refuses to become washed up as a fully retired college athlete. He keeps training religiously because he continues to enjoy competing within himself. Remington has also become a part-time coach with his alma mater, Frontier Academy and enjoys seeing younger runners reach their running goals like he once did.
Although Remington’s high school and collegiate career is over, expect him to continue to better his personal bests and make an impact on the Colorado high school running scene for years to come.
