In about three months, Tim Petty, a Highland junior, will be getting ready for this final varsity soccer season when he returns to school as a senior this coming autumn.

“Bittersweet. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Petty, a Huskie midfielder. “I hope to do a lot. Score a lot of goals, run a lot.”

Petty has been running a lot this spring. He was second in the boys’ pentathlon a few weeks ago at the MHAL track and field championships at FDR. Last week in Middletown, during the Section 9, Class C championships, Petty was sixth in the 400-meter dash.

“It’s the longest sprint possible,” said Petty, of the 400-meter dash, his favorite event.
Petty ran the 400-meter dash at the sectional championships under favorable weather conditions at a meet that sometimes can be ensconced in stifling heat. And track helps with the endurance he needs on the soccer field.

“I enjoy both a lot,” said Petty, of track and soccer. “I like running, and soccer is just running. I feel that track gets me ready for soccer. I never get tired on the field.”

Soccer has the incentive of a goal, scoring, in which players work together to achieve. Track is an individual pursuit, and overcoming obstacles is a singular mission, and Petty said that’s part of achieving success on the track and in the field.

“It’s to keep pushing through the wall that you have,” he said.

The pentathlon consists of the 110-hurdles, shot put, the long and high jumps, and a 1,500-meter run, and Petty is the hurdles challenge him the most in the event.

“Hurdles is a lot of work,” he said, “and I don’t know how to quite do it yet.”