Four months ago, Russellville Middle School student, twelve-year-old Ryland Calvert, beginning seventh grade this fall, entered his first track meet. He won the 100-meter and 200-meter dash.

In his fifth track meet, he won the Region 6 Championship in Knoxville against some of the fastest 12-year-olds from five states in the 100-meter dash and took second place in the 200-meter.

This week, he will be in Des Moines, Iowa, participating in the AAU Junior Olympic Finals. The top eight finishers in each individual competition will receive the AAU All-American Award. Calvert is currently in eleventh place out of 73 entries in the 100-meter. His run started on a rainy day in Muscle Shoals and it ends this year on a track at Drake University.

As soon as he returns home, it’s back to the football field and his first love. Calvert will play for the Golden Tigers. In his last year of playing pewee football, he scored 48 touchdowns in 10 games and led the Colbert Heights team to the championship. He won the 100-meter dash in the AAU Region 6 Track and Field Event in Knoxville on June 30.

Calvert’s RMS track coach, Chris Boatwright, explained his pride for Calvert’s performance. “I’m very proud of him,” Boatwright said. “He is already making some big gains. He plays football and basketball as well as track – he’s a triathlete – and he really puts in a lot of work, and I’m super proud of him.”

Boatwright said Calvert initially came out and ran with some his track students before Calvert could qualify to be on the team because of not yet being in middle school — partly for fun and partly to stay in shape for football.

“I encouraged him to participate this summer with AAU track to help him see where he stands up against other kids in the state,” Boatwright added. “I knew he had it in him, and I’m glad he was able to see it for himself, and it’s certainly paid off for him.”

Calvert’s mother, Tiffany Calvert, said her son’s summer track efforts with the recreation department started at the encouragement of one of his football coaches, as a means to help with his speed and agility.

“We didn’t have any certain expectations, but he just excelled, and I’m so proud of him,” she explained. “He’s really excelled,” she added, “and now here we are going to the Junior Olympics.”

She said it’s not only about the results, adding her son is also having fun despite not having the build she says most people think of athletes inclined to compete in track.

“Everybody’s just amazed watching him, to see he’s doing so well,” Calvert added. “Ryland started in the spring through the rec department, continuing this summer with and he will also compete at RMS this fall. As for his competition this week, right now he’s sitting at number 11, and there are 73 entered.”

He didn’t play for Russellville last year; instead, he played for Colbert Heights, on the rec team.

“He did that because Russellville is more kind of focused on bringing the boys up to the next level, and they don’t enter into a league, so they don’t get to play for a championship, and he really wanted to play for a championship last year, so we took him to Colbert Heights and let him play there,” Calvert said.

“Track was just something that started as fun and conditioning for football, but I did good,” Calvert said. “I love competing, I love completion, I love being pushed and I love running,” he added.

“There were a lot of people behind me pushing me and encouraging me. I would say, never be scared to try something new, you never know where it might lead you, and how much you might really love it.”