Colin Black, A Three Season Runner for HHS Track

Around the seventh grade Hopedale’s Colin Black found a passion for running and then when his Coach told him he saw a future in the sport the Blue Raider knew exactly where he was going to put all his focus. Originally, Black was a three sport athlete (basketball, baseball and cross country) but when Coach Joe Drugan sat him down to talk about his future in running the Hopedale athlete bought in.
“He was a basketball player but when it came to running he was a natural,” Drugan said. “He is a definite leader that now runs all three seasons for Hopedale. I told him that if he focused on running all three seasons it would get him into college.”
As a three time Dual Valley Conference All Star in cross country and part of the two-time Division 2 State Champions Black knew that he’d be able to run the distance events in the winter and spring season for Coach Drugan; although it would take a little bit of time.
“My first year in winter track I ran the mile but didn’t do so well, I ran a 4:58 where now I’m running around 4:40,” he said.” During my sophomore year I started doing the 2-mile, where I have a time of 9:55. IU want to drop my time a little more so that I can qualify for the New Balance Challenge in New York.”
Black knows it’s not going to be a walk in the park to get his time down to qualify but he does believe in his ability. It’s a challenge that he hopes to be able to cross off his running bucket list. He also has the outmost faith in Coach Drugan training him properly to accomplish the goal.
“He is only six seconds from qualifying and only 3 seconds off the best runner in Division 2,” Drugan said. “The kid can do anything, relays too. To be honest with you I really don’t know what his best event is, once he gets a thought into his heads he can do anything. I’ve been coaching 26 years and this kid is a real standout.”
Although Drugan believes that Black can do anything, the senior captain much prefers running the 2-mile as he feels that he can pace himself in this event. Whenever he has the time Black is taking part in 5K races to improve his stamina to be ready for his 2-mile event. As an eighth grader he was part of the cross country team that captured the State Title as the eleventh runner on the squad, but two years late in 2016 he was main component to the team winning the State Championship again. Two championships with two different views.
“In 2014 when we won the State Championship I was basically watching the older runners and taking notes on what they were doing,” Black said. “When we came back for the second title I was a part of it and it was an unbelievable experience.”
Drugan will continuously use Black in a leg of a relay race here and there and although that quick burst of adrenaline running is a high, the senior prefers his specialty, the 2-mile. The versatility on the track will make Black a very sought after commodity next year in college.
“I can’t say enough about him; he works extremely hard and I saw a potential in him all those years ago,” Drugan said. “I took him under my wing and worked slowly with him like a do with all my other stars. One step at a time as you don’t want to burn them out. I feel he will go onto college and become an All American Runner.”
Black has committed to Stonehill College in Easton Massachusetts where he finds his new track coach to be very similar to Coach Drugan in terms of styles. At this time he is still hoping to run all three seasons in college.