Turtleboy: Prediction: Burncoat Sophomore Will Run in 2024 Boston Olympics

Monday, February 16, 2015

Turtleboy

Who is the greatest athlete in Worcester’s history? We’ve written before about our Top 12 on Turtleboy Sports, and there have been a lot of solid athletes to choose from. Burncoat’s Ron Brace and Michael Bradley, Doherty’s Tim Ritchie and Edwin Rodriguez, St. Johns’ Richard Rodgers, Holy Name’s Dwayne McClain, and of course legendary cycler Major Taylor topped the list.

However, a sophomore from Burncoat High School named Rodney Agyare-May, just may top them all when it’s all said and done.

Agyare-May won the Division 4 State Championship in the 600 meters at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on Saturday, becoming the first Burncoat athlete to win a State title since Brace won the shot put in 2004. But it wasn’t just the fact that he won; it was the way he did it that was so insane.

Going into the meet the Division 4 record for the 600 was held by Oxford’s Douglas Caves. The 2005 graduate was pretty much the greatest all around track athlete the area has ever seen. Not only did he win state and district championships in the 100, 200, 400, 600 meters, and the long jump, he set state records and won New England Championships. His time of 1:22.16 wasn’t supposed to be broken. Ever.

But Agyare-May didn’t just beat the record; he destroyed it, running one of the fastest times in the country at 1:21.30. His work isn’t done though. The top 3 athletes in each of the five divisions in every event will participate in the All-State Championship on Saturday. Rodney is not the favorite though. That’s because reigning New England champion and All-State record holder Joe Luongo of St. John’s Prep in Danvers ran a 1:20.34 in the Division 1 state meet. If he finds a way to win this then the legend will only continue to grow.

The bottom line is that the Worcester Public Schools unfairly get a lot of negative attention as a result of the incompetent leadership up top. But what often gets lost is the WPS continually send kids to college who become doctors, lawyer, scientists, and in some cases, phenomenal athletes. Rodney Agyare-May has accomplished in just two years what no other Worcester athlete ever has. I’m telling you all right now so I can be on record – you’re going to see him at Boston Olympics in 2024. When you do you can say that you heard it from Turtleboy first.

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