May 18, 2011
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UMass Lowell's Evan White completed the trifecta over the weekend as he set both a meet and facility record in the 400 meters and was also named the Men's Track Athlete of the Year at the Northeast-10 Conference Track and Field Championship in Lowell.
The sophomore from Tewksbury finished with a time of 46.71 seconds, which bested the previous meet/facility record of 46.91 seconds that was set in 2009. White's time is the second fastest in Division II, in the entire country.
"We actually knew he was plenty capable of (his performance) just based on his workouts," said head coach Gary Gardner. "He really hasn't had a chance to run a fast 400 all spring. I even told him he had a chance to set a school record, which is a little faster (than the meet record), during the week.
"We had a pretty good indication on what he can do but I think what surprised us the most was he could do it in those conditions, because it was pretty windy on Saturday."
White was thrilled with his fantastic performance over the weekend, but he almost missed out on receiving some hardware.
"It was pretty chill (to win Track Athlete of the Year)," he said. "I wasn't really expecting it. Actually I wanted to leave right before the awards because it was about to downpour. One of my roommates convinced me to stay."
White's list of accomplishments through his first two years at UMass Lowell is mind-boggling. He's been named the NE-10 Men's "Track Athlete of the Week" a number of times. Back in the winter season he set a school record in the 200 meter dash. He was also named U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-East Region team back in March.
He says his teammates have been a major reason why he's had such a strong two years.
"I've just been coming in, doing my work and listening to my older teammates," he said. "They've all been able to come in and make impacts early (as well)."
Gardner says it's been a two-year process to get from where White was as a freshman to where he is now as a sophomore.
"It really hasn't been a season long thing," he said. "It's really been since he got here. Pretty much a year long if not longer thing. He came in and he wasn't real strong as an athlete. It's something our sprint coach (Mike Ekstrand) has really worked on over the last 12 months to get to the point where he could do a lot of stuff in workouts he couldn't do before.
"We basically have three workout groups as far as what they can handle. When he started out he was in workout group number three as a freshman and now he's leading group one. So right there that show's you the indication on what he can do."
Gardner and Ekstrand recruited White from Tewksbury High more than two years ago and had high expectations for the obviously talented youngster. However, Gardner says you can never be sure that a runner will take it to the next level.
"We watched him run and we knew how talented he was, so we were hoping this would be the kind of impact," he said. "But to be perfectly honest with you with talent you just never know. They have to come in, work and sacrifice and buy into everything that you're doing. You're just never sure until you get them here."
"I don't even think we were sure after last year," he added. "He did do what he was supposed to do over the summer and became a great worker once September hit, and that's when we knew."
White also credits his work in the off-season for his performance this year.
"I've definitely gotten a lot stronger just by lifting weights," he said. "And I've been working a lot harder and did a lot of workouts in the fall."
White had a solid freshman season last year for the River Hawks. He was named the "UMass Lowell/Lowell Five Savings Bank Athlete of the Week" within his first two months of his collegiate career. Some athletes might be content with that type of opening performance. Not Evan White.
"His work ethic has gotten better season by season," Gardner said. "If you have a little talent and are willing to work hard you can usually be a pretty good athlete. He's very talented and he's become a very good worker. Those two combinations have led to success, and he's really still just scratching the surface of what he can do. He'll run a lot faster before he graduates that's for sure."
Gardner's expectations for White are definitely high, but the way the sophomore has improved, they are definitely realistic.
"Evan will probably have every school record from the 100 through 400 before he graduates," Gardner said. "That would be expectation number one. And hopefully this season he'll be an All-American on the (4x400) relay and whatever individual event we decide with Evan to do at the NCAA Championships. Really I think the next goal he needs to set out is to break 46 seconds in the 400 meters and run under 21 seconds in the 200 meters."
