On Saturday, March 9, junior Kieran Barnewall competed at the New Balance Nationals track meet in Boston. He qualified for the meet after running an 8.23 in the 60-meter hurdles. Barnewall went out and ran his best race, running an 8.16, placing second in his heat and 26th overall.

Running at nationals isn’t an easy feat. The best runners from all over the country flock to Boston in order to run against top-tier competition. For Barnewall, this provided extra motivation both leading up to and during his race.

“[The competition] pushed me, it gave me something to chase,” said Barnewall.

Leading up to a race, nerves are definitely a big part of running. But Barnewall seemed to be calm and collected while he was waiting for his heat to start. He knew that all he had to do was run his race and that he had the ability to possibly make it past the first round.

“I thought going into the race that if I just ran my best time I could possibly make semi-finals,” said Barnewall, “I had high expectations of myself, but in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t going to be able to win the whole thing.”

Despite his insane talent and dedication to hurdles, it would be hard to get to the level he is without some help and support throughout this process.

“Coach Holth definitely helped me perfect everything” said Barnewall, “Coach Nallenweg helped me out a bunch too,”

Every athlete who qualifies for New Balance Nationals also receives a backpack. Although it sounds like a small thing, it’s a huge deal in the track community. It shows that the runner was able to make it to such a high-caliber meet. Barnewall has talked about how much he wanted the backpack for the last 2 seasons, which drove his teammates a little crazy, but now that he has it, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever take it off.

“I’m most definitely wearing it everywhere I go,” said Barnewall.

Despite making it to indoor nationals, Barnewall has high expectations for himself this outdoor season as well. After not qualifying for the state finals last year, he wants to make it known that he deserves to be there.

“I want to place top 3 in state, that’s what I’m set on,” said Barnewall, “I also want to break 14 seconds in the 110s”

With his PR outdoor from last year sitting at 14.54, Barnewall is confident that if he cleans up his race, he can drop below that 14 second mark.

If you see Kieran around, make sure to congratulate him for making it to such a prestigious meet!