Menu
Cloverdale senior wrapping up stellar four-year career
CLOVERDALE -- He's been at Cloverdale for four years and he's played three sports. He has excelled at all of them and now he's looking toward he county track meet at Greencastle on Tuesday. Senior Wade Warren is making his presence felt and he doesn't take anything for granted.
"You have to work to get what you want," Warren said. "It's not just going to come easy for you. Eighth grade when I started out, we didn't have to work hard. But then when you're a freshman and you are getting blown away by all these guys that are amazing that gives you the boost to want to work hard."
At the end of this season he will have earned his tenth varsity letter. His hard work has paid off in the form of record breaking performances at Cloverdale high school.
In Warren's second year he ran with the 4x100 relay team that broke the school's record. In his sophomore year, he tied the school's wrestling record for the most escapes. In his junior year he earned nothing but blue ribbons in 110 and 300 hurdles all year and in his senior year while making the All-County team at wide-receiver, he also set at Cloverdale school record for receptions.
"I definitely wouldn't want to go anywhere else," Warren said. "My senior class, everyone in that class is like a family. That's how I am. I like to be a part of things that are like a family."
Warren started his carrer with track in the fifth grade and immediately found an affinity with sports. But it wasn't until he got the full effect of competing for County that he really began to appreciate the camaraderie that comes from cooperative competition.
"Freshman year they tried to get me to wrestle and I wouldn't do it," Warren said. "I thought it was nasty. Rolling around with each other I didn't like it. But if I didn't do wrestling I wouldn't have been able to get my letter jacket earlier and I wouldn't have been able to get my athletic blanket. But as soon as I walked in the wrestling room and saw how hard everyone worked, the effort that people put into it just made me want to do it."
Warren may not have been initially inclined toward the sport but once he got into it he excelled.
"I didn't really know what I was doing my first year. I only won 11 matches. I went 11-26. Then the next year I went 26-11," Warren said
It definitely hasn't been a cakewalk for Warren. He's had to overcome typical high school problems as well as injury issues. He insists that the injuries are nothing more than a motivational tool for getting back onto the playing field and competing well.
"I hadn't had any injury in a sport until my senior year," he said. "In football I had a massive dead leg above the knee. It tightened to the point where I couldn't even bend my knee. It hurt to run on it. But we had Cascade that week. I had to play. Then wrestling I had another knee injury the same one. That was pretty sensitive."
Playing through injuries is something that has become a kind of necessity for someone with Warren's talent and he takes the challenge seriously despite some disconcertment from loved ones.
"When I go through an injury my mom says, 'You need to rest it. Don't run'. When in my mind it's like the end of the world. I have to be out there now. I wrestled in regionals with my hurt knee. I couldn't use that knee hardly at all. I had to go down on one knee the whole time. So if I can find anyway to go out there an perform, that's what I'll do."
It helps to have a healthy supporting cast when heading into an arena or a track meet slightly hindered, and Warren knows he's got a lot of support in form of a resilient mother who wouldn't let a hurricane stop her from cheering on her son.
"My mom is one of the most supportive people you will ever meet," Warren said enthusiastically. "Rain or shine, no matter how far the distance, she'll be there. Owen Valley last year it was pouring down rain, and in the middle of the field there was a huge puddle. There were only about five people in the stands. One of them was my mom.
"She sat up there in an umbrella and a raincoat just to watch. She gets up for wrestling meets maybe had to get up at five in the morning just to be supportive."
When it comes to the sporting aspect, Warren is still happy with his class at Cloverdale who, despite the recent success of the Clover sports or lack thereof, Warren believes they are grat fans of the sports there.
"Almost everyone in that class, I am friends with," Warren said. "They're supportive. They come. It's no secret Cloverdale is not that great at sports but they come and support. The teachers majority I like. Most are very nice if you need help they are there. Coach Tyler and Coach Waycott are some of the best coaches you'll see."
In his senior year Warren has set some pretty steep goals after coming off a win-by-inches in last year's county tournament. He is ready for more blue ribbons as the season draws to its conclusion.
"I want to win conference. Individually I want to win the 300 and 110 (hurdles) again. Then I want to win everything at county. All the events. I'd like to make it to state. My eyes are set on 300 hurdles for state," Warren said.