“Runners on your marks, get set, BANG,” a gunshot rings out, no one pays attention, all eyes are on the runners who are going stride for stride, fighting to be first. Many students have run track and field at some point, whether to get faster or for fun, but what about those who do track as their main sport. Siddhant Kumar ‘25, one of the fastest runners in the state, has dedicated his life to running.
He runs 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter in track with his fastest official time being, 10.66 seconds, 21.11 seconds, and 47.36 seconds, respectively. He achieved these times as a junior placing top five in the state for all events. Coming back as a senior there are high hopes for him to sweep the opponents in all of his events. He is aiming for the time of 10.20 seconds for the 100 meter, 20.50 seconds in the 200 meter, and 45.00 seconds in the 400 meters. These projected times should beat all state records and the national Indian records. He is also going for the title as “The Fastest Man from India under 20” by breaking all the national records currently held by anyone from India.
This title doesn’t come without work. Kumar ‘25 still wakes up at four in the morning most mornings to work out and run. Much of his work is unseen, pushing himself to shave off point four seconds off his current fastest time. All his work just to run for less than a minute and a half between three different events. Sprinting is one of the most physically demanding sports, it requires hours of work to only see milliseconds of change in your time. Requiring perfect form and giving every last bit of energy and power in your body.
Kumar ‘25 started off high school by playing soccer, where he used his speed and strength to dominate. After some injuries throughout his freshmen and sophomore year he refocused to running track only. His speed shone through on the track and led him to being widely recognized and by his junior year, he was seen as the biggest asset to the Bishop Gorman track team.
“My goals beyond breaking my personal records are to progress in becoming a professional athlete, I am close to signing to a company” said Kumar ‘25. As one of the fastest men in Nevada he is getting offers to join companies and make money from his running. Now with NIL deals making collegiate athletes money into the millions of dollars. Getting a deal with any company in high school sets up great opportunities in college to get more deals with bigger companies.
“Making it to one of the top schools is a goal, I am talking with Harvard and USC right now,” said Kumar ‘25. Kumar ’25 does not only thrive as a runner but also in academics, he is in talks with some of the most prestigious and academically rigorous colleges. He is not satisfied though. His dream college, Stanford, is the end goal when it comes to choosing a school.
