When Aubrey Howard began his sophomore year at Lane, he was grappling with the decision of whether he was going to follow in his father’s footsteps and play basketball, or pave a new road for himself with track.

He didn’t decide on track until the end of February during his sophomore year, when he performed well at a competition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“That gave me inspiration to pursue track as my main sport instead of basketball, and that also helped me take track more seriously because at the time it was a hobby and now it’s a passion,” Howard, Div. 853, said.

Howard’s main events include the triple jump and high jump. A triple jump is an event “with three different skills, hopping, bounding (stepping) and jumping into the sand,” according to digitaltrackfield.com. A high jump, on the other hand, is a “jump for height over a horizontal bar,” according to merriamwebster.com.

His personal best high jump is 6 feet 2 inches and a triple jump of 41 feet. According to Howard, these feats did not come without hard work and dedication.

“A lot of work in the summertime—weightlifting, sprinting as well as running mechanics,” Howard said.

On the team, he has taken on a leadership role as a captain who helps the underclassmen manage practices and workouts.

His team member Josh Brown, Div. 873, said that Howard is a great leader and has become a “pivotal part” of the varsity squad.

“You will not find many people who put up as much effort as he does,” Brown said. “His character reflects on his talent in the track. He is one of the best on the team and an all-around solid athlete, you really can’t ask for a better teammate.”

According to Coach Roof, the Boys Head Track Coach, Howard leads by example.

“He’s one of the team leaders, and he has a good strong physical presence for the team, you know, he’s one of the bigger, stronger guys,”  Roof said.    

What motivates Howard the most as an athlete is his desire for an education and to continue to run in college. Besides running track, Howard enjoys creating his own beats and is considering an engineering or a computer science related major.

Although he does not know what the future holds, Howard aspires to be like his older brother, Avery Howard.

“He went to the military, but he still became very successful in what he wanted to do, and he found his passion,” Howard said. “He became a journalist for the military and I just hope I have that same mentality when it comes to what I want to pursue.”

While being a student athlete can be challenging to manage, Howard has continued to embody the “Lane Way,” according to Roof.

“He is good at balancing the rigors of Lane, academically and athletically,” Roof said.

Last year Howard faced a hamstring injury that pushed him to work harder over the summer to get back in shape and ready for the season.

“I really focused more on getting back and getting better,” Howard said. “As well as considering the fact that I was going to be a varsity athlete and a captain, I wanted to really represent the school to my fullest potential.”

This is his first season without an injury, leaving him excited for the new season and what he can accomplish.

According to Roof, this will be Howard’s best year because of the physical growth he’s made. Roof said that though Howard started off as “awkward” and “kind of uncoordinated,” he has made progress.

“Now, he’s kind of coming into his own, and it’s going to be an exciting year for him because I really don’t know what his potential is — I would just say there’s a high ceiling,” Roof said.