Update: Hillhouse Racers Head To Nationals

(Updated Friday 2:08 p.m.): Hillhouse is sending seven track stars to the same arena where the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials just took place — thanks to some help from the community.

The seven high schoolers all qualified to compete in national outdoor track championships next week in Eugene, Oregon.

Unlike in past years, the team could not host meets to raise money for the trip. Instead, the team sought private donations through the website GoFundMe.

Since the Independent first published this article on Thursday evening, the team has raised $8,731 on GoFundMe to send the seven high schoolers to Oregon next week.

That means that in less than 24 hours, readers helped the team surpass the goal of $7,000 they needed to fully cover their trip.

“Our motto is that we find a way,” said Assistant Coach Darrell Brown. “[Eugene] is the track capital for the whole country. It’s where world class athletes compete. It’s like walking on hallowed ground.”

Brown is also dean of students at Hillhouse.

James Hillhouse High School has sent runners and throwers to nationals for years. The boys and girls outdoor track teams were crowned state champions this year again.

This year, there is no junior varsity level at nationals. All seven athletes are competing at the highest level in the country for high school track, a possible first since Brown started coaching in 2013.

The cost of the trip is between $15,000 and $17,000 total. This includes plane tickets, food and expensive race entry fees. The New Haven Public Schools athletic department has stepped up to pay for the entry fees and new uniforms. Hillhouse covered the cost of the plane tickets until the team finds the money to pay the school back.

Otherwise, the team is raising money entirely from private donors. As of Thursday, the team’s GoFundMe had raised $3,285 out of the goal of $10,000.

The timing is a little stressful, Brown admitted. The tournament is taking place from June 30 through July 2.

“We’re fundraising up to the last minute,” Brown said.

Last Meet Together

Rising senior Ralphael Hawkins has competed in track nationals since his freshman year. Coaches have told him that he could make it to the Olympics, and he plans to try after college.

Despite Hawkins’ experience with national championships, this year feels different. It’s the only time he will get to compete as a team with his friends. Two of his relay teammates, Justin Mills and To’Rae Wright, graduated this June. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the group from competing together before that.

It will be Wright’s first flight and first trip to the West Coast. It will be Mills’ first trip so far away.

“I want to keep the seniors in good spirits,” Hawkins said. ​“It’s our last track meet together.”

The track coaches and track team are a key part of Hawkins’ support system. Brown and longtime coach Gary Moore have pulled Hawkins out of rough patches in his life. Hawkins almost gave up on running when he broke his hip in seventh grade, thinking he got injured too easily. If the coaches caught him goofing off in school, they made him do 30 pushups in the hallway. Their care made him want to run to repay them, and he found his love of running in the process.

Hawkins particularly struggled when his father died from an illness on October 1, 2017. Hawkins has the date tattooed on his forearm. Moore and Brown helped Hawkins refocus on track and eventually pull his grades up from one A per report card to four. Meanwhile, older students encouraged Hawkins to train hard, telling him that the sport was his to rule once they were gone.

A few of those going to nationals have started jobs, so they will have pocket change for shopping and souvenirs when they get to Oregon. Hawkins just started a job too, after encouragement from Brown.

“I used to think 9 – 5s were for chumps, because I was going to run [professionally]. Now I have a job. It’s not for chumps, I can tell you that!” Hawkins said.

He likes his new job. He particularly likes having money to give to his mother, so she can treat herself to a manicure.

“She’s helped me for 18 years,” he explained.

Hawkins’ mother, who has two degrees, has encouraged him to make multiple career plans. One plan is to run. Another is to become a forensic scientist.

Nationals will be Leah Moore’s last race with the Hillhouse team too. The 18-year-old just graduated from Engineering and Science University Magnet School.

The daughter of two Hillhouse coaches, Leah has been practicing with the Hillhouse team since middle school. Her mother and father realized she had a talent for throwing the shot put and hammer. They encouraged her to pursue the sport, hoping that she could earn a college scholarship.

Sure enough, Leah has a full scholarship to attend the University of Kentucky and compete in shot put and hammer events there.

Leah’s younger brother, Gary Jr, is a track star in his own right. He has somehow managed to excel in both throwing and running events — as well as in his academic work.

He’s like the main character in Avatar the Last Airbender, Brown said — Gary Jr. is a master of all the elements.

The Oregon tournament will be the first outdoor national championship for about half of the students going, including rising Hillhouse senior Olivia O’Connor (pictured above) and …

… Rising New Haven Academy senior Matthew Gibbs. Gibbs just started competing with the Hillhouse team this year and already won first place in the state for one of the 300-meter hurdle races. He’s another athlete with Olympic potential, and he has been watching the Olympic trials carefully.

“At one time, they might have been in the same shoes as me,” Gibbs said.

At the national level, Gibbs will run the relay with Hawkins, Wright and Mills. He will also compete in a 400-meter hurdle race — a new challenge for him.

He has spent the past few days practicing the longer format and feeling lactic acid build up in his legs. His legs get stiffer, which makes it harder to clear the hurdles. He has been using massages and ice baths to reduce the pain.

Gibbs will be a sophomore in college in the next Olympics, so he would prefer to try out for the 2028 Olympics. He aims to do track in college and learn about criminal justice. He plans to become an FBI agent, a role his mother has encouraged based on the way he is always asking questions.

In the meantime, Gibbs has his eye on winning a medal in Oregon. He’s been watching the Olympic trials, so he can already picture the view from the podium.