When

Matt Harlfinger broke his arm in the eighth grade, he wasn't thinking

about running track. To a solid baseball player like Harlfinger, the

broken arm just meant he wasn't going to be taking the field anytime

soon. He was introduced to running track by some friends, started working

with the SouthSide Pioneers since their inception in 2002, and began

moving up the ranks in high school. He became the top hurdler for both

the Pioneers and the Panthers in his senior year and decided to continue

his track career in college.

At Starr's Mill, Harlfinger earned varsity letters all four years

in cross country and track, broke the school records in the 110 and

300 meter hurdles as well as the sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays

and was captain of the track and field team and team MVP as a senior.

"I was just really having fun my senior year of high school," said

Harlfinger, now a rising sophomore at Western Carolina University. "I

wanted to pursuit more goals in collegiate track."

As a college freshman, Harlfinger competed in the heptathlon indoors

and the decathlon outdoors. In the conference meets, both indoor and

outdoor, Harlfinger placed fourth. The heptathlon features the 60 meter

dash, the 60 meter hurdles, the 1,000 meter run, the long jump, the high

jump, pole vault, and the shot put. The decathlon includes the 100, 400

and 1,500 meter runs, the 110 hurdles, pole vault, high jump, long jump,

shot put, discus, and javelin. He was the highest scoring freshman in

the conference in those events and is the second best decathlete on the

team. One of the biggest surprises for Harlfinger was his success in

the pole vault, one of the events in the decathlon.

"I never pole vaulted in high school and I got pretty good, going

14' after two months of training," said Harlfinger.

Among Harlfinger's goals for his collegiate career are to make

the nationals by his senior year. In the meantime, he has returned

home for the summer to help coach hurdles for the Pioneers.

"I was always promised a hurdle coach when I was with the team

and never got one," said Harlfinger. "It's nice to give

something back." Harlfinger coaches six girls and four guys of all

ages. One of his former Starr's Mill teammates, Kristin Olsen,

is now one of the athletes he coaches. She was 52nd in the nation last

year

and four of the top five youth girls in the Area 4 USATF meet are coached

younger brother, Andrew.

"He e-mailed us and asked if he could come back and coach this

summer," said Danielle Mathis, head of the Pioneers. "He sees

the team like his family and he likes coaching. It's his thing."

Harlfinger and the Pioneers practice three nights a week and then compete

in meets every weekend. Though he has yet to declare a major, Harlfinger

is looking to get into sports management and physical therapy. He will

return to school on August 21 and is looking forward to another successful

year as a Western Carolina Catamount.

For more information on the SouthSide Pioneers, phone 678-595-8470 or

e-mail to [email protected] .

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