Records are meant to be broken. It seems so simple, yet for both senior Eric Wilson and sophomore Madison Johnson, their recent accomplishments early on in the Red Knight’s track and field season is truly an amazing feat.  

For Wilson, a Harvard football commit, exceeding expectations is nothing unusual. As a part of the BSM varsity football team since freshman year, Wilson has managed to rack up nearly every record and award that you can think of—whether that be Academic All-Conference or Minnesota All-State. While excelling on the field, Wilson has also managed to be part of the Minnesota Boys Choir as well as be a Valedictorian for the Class of 2017. While all this is impressive, recently breaking the record in shotput throwing 53 feet, 7.5 inches in his very first track and field meet is high up on his list of achievements. “It was really fun because I knew [the record] had been standing for a long time and my coaches had been pushing me to get to that point,” said Wilson.  

Although Wilson has only been participating in track and field for a few years, his goals for the remainder of the season are quite strenuous. “I hope to make it to State again and place as high as I can on the podium and make it to State as a team as well,” said Wilson.   

Similar to Wilson, sophomore Madison Johnson impressively matched a BSM track and field record last week at their first meet. Johnson matched the high-jump record that was previously held by Brooke Stanley. When Johnson attempted her first jump of the season, she reached 5 feet 4 inches, breaking the record. “I didn’t expect to reach that height when I did. I was hoping to break it but later on in my career so it was shocking,” said Johnson.

Oddly enough, Johnson credits her early track and field success to Stanley who was a part of the team last year. “Brooke Stanley, who went to BSM last year, and my second oldest sibling, Miles Barnes, have really helped me in my track and field career by talking me through how the long jump works and pushing me to achieve my goals,” said Johnson. The sky’s the limit for Johnson who is only a sophomore, and she continues to work hard and get better every day hoping to break even more records at BSM. “I’m hoping to break the record that I just set in the high jump as well as beat my recent 400-meter time,” Johnson said.