Of the eleven athletes in this year’s senior class that are moving on to play intercollegiate sports, nine are football players. The other two are Carrie Vance, the assassin striker for the girls’ soccer team, who is attending Shenandoah University to play “el futbol” and Byron “Conner” Stroud, a reliable and consistent runner for the undefeated boys track team, who will walk on Duquesne’s team this year.

“I took interest in Duquesne for its excellent academic reputation. But when I started looking into their track team, I realized that I had a good chance of competing for them,” Stroud said.

Duquesne is Division 1 AA, which means they compete against schools like St. Francis and Albany. Fortunately, Duquesne does very well in its meets and almost always places in the top three of its competition.

“The coach and I have been emailing back and forth for a couple weeks. And although I missed the athletic scholarships, he told me that I have a very good chance of making the team,” Stroud added.

Byron’s signature event is the 800m dash. An elite time for the 800m dash is often around 2:01. Byron’s best this year was a 2:11. Incoming freshmen on Duquesne’s squad run an average of 2:09.

“Generally, in track, I work as hard as I can at practice and then just do my job at the meets. I strongly believe that races are won and lost at practice, depending on how hard you work. So, I am very willing to work hard this summer to be as competitive as I can be,” Stroud said.

Stroud is practically a shoo-in for Duquesne’s track team. As long as he works hard over the summer to shave a couple seconds off of his times, he should be on the team in no time.

“Teamed up with Kohler, Zook, and Makdad on the 3200 relay squad, Conner rounded out what was probably the brainiest foursome I ever coached,” said interim head track coach Steve Everhart,  “I mean, these kids were fast, but they’d place first at states if we were clocking IQ instead of meters. So Conner topped out in the 1600 meters at 5:08 this season and at 2:11 in the 800 meters, running the 3200 relay team’s most improved split at Districts to give his relay team a 4th place finish–well ahead of Bellwood, he might add. I’ll always remember Connor as the guy who kept asking how he could get better. His commitment to improve (and to exterminate Blue-Devils) will arm him well for the next level.”

Tammy Wills, Stroud’s cross country coach, is also pleased that Stroud will be continuing his competitive running career.

“I always try to encourage my runners to continue the sport after graduation. I am thrilled he has decided to do so,” said Wills, “Conner has been an important part of the cross country team the past few years, so I am looking forward to watching what he does at the next level.”

Best wishes to Byron as he goes off to continue his education at Duquesne. Make Tyrone proud!