Marion HS Senior Dylon Nalley: Defending Cross Country Champion Aims for State Record
MARION, Ill. — Dylon Nalley isn’t your typical high school cross country runner. Nalley, a senior at Marion High School and defending IHSA Class 2A State Cross Country champion, in fact is an athlete that comes around once in a lifetime. And now Nalley wants to make his impact last even longer.
“My personal goals this year are that since it is my senior year, I want to be a state champion again,” Nalley said. “I also want to run under 14 minutes for three miles and get the Illinois State Record. I also want to be an All-American at Nationals this year.”
Nalley is already a record-holder multiple times. Not only is he the Marion High School record-holder, he has already set records this year in three of the four meets he has run. He barely missed that 14-minute goal, running 14:00.2 at Peoria’s Detweiller Park in the Richard Spring Invitational in September, setting a meet record in the process. He became the first runner to run a sub 15-minute time in the history of the Forrest Park SC Festival 5K race at Forrest Park in St. Louis, covering the course in 14:54.7. Nalley currently has the fastest high school three-mile time of the season, not only in Illinois, but the the entire country.
“I love seeing all of the hard training that I put in and my dedication to the sport pay off with each race,” Nalley says. “It is very rewarding.”
Nalley also loves seeing how the rest of his teammates have pushed themselves as well. As of October 4, the Wildcats as a team were ranked fifth in Class 2A in the state.
“Being a member of a team has taught me to value my teammates like family,” he said. “We spend a lot of time together and it is awesome to see everyone training just as hard as you and seeing everyone’s accomplishments.”
Nalley’s training program helps him to be one of the top athletes in Illinois.
“My biggest challenge in my sport is having a grueling training schedule that requires me to get up each morning before school to run 6-10 miles,” he said. “I do this every day to get in the amount of miles I need to for the week. Everyday minus Wednesdays I run 2-a-days. I manage this by getting a good nights rest, taking vitamins, eating healthy, hydrating and toughing it out to make it through the day until my afternoon practice and then I do all of my recovery regiment and do it all over the next day. It takes a lot of sacrifice and time.”
Recovery time is something he says he learned about the hard way.
“A mistake I made and had to learn the hard way from, was not taking recovery time as serious as I should have, which led me to getting a pretty bad injury from trying to train harder than my body was ready for.”
Part of that recovery also includes relaxation when he’s not working out, including common high school student activities like video games, hanging out with friends and spending time with his girl friend.
Nalley’s advice to other runners is simple. You get what you put in.
“Stay humble and don’t stress about who you are racing,” he adds. “I go out each race and race myself. I’m not worried about who is in the race. As long as I run to my full potential that’s all that matters to me.”
He also said he has received some advice from a person whose records he hopes to beat, former Olympic distance runner Craig Virgin.
“It is your time now, so make the most of it,” is a quote from Virgin.
“Running is a hard sport and it takes a lot of time and sacrifices,” said Nalley. “But nothing is more rewarding than crossing that finish line, especially if you are the Champion, get a PR, or break a record. I want to finish my Senior season on top and will continue to work hard until I make that happen.”
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