ALLENDALE, Mich. — “God teaches you a lot of different things through what you do and what you love so this year we’re coming back and trying to have fun and relax,” said Patrick Adams, a senior at Allendale.
At the 2021 Division two state track meet, Allendale hurdler Patrick Adams was an easy favorite to win the 300 meter hurdles.
“I worked my butt off all winter, all off-season. And I ended up winning the 110 title but and the 300 title I ended up tripping over the last hurdle and came in second place by like .03,” said Adams.
Just 3 tenths of a second stood between him and first place. And he hasn’t forgotten about that number since.
“Three's actually my favorite number. And it’s been my favorite number since I was little. Because I’m Patrick J. Adams III, I was born in 2003. In December 23rd. So 3 had just always been my number. It was my football number,”
As the senior Falcon preps for his final race in an Allendale uniform, his coach Chad Meyer isn’t ready to see him go.
“He’s the kind of kid you build a team around. He fills that role on the team to motivate kids, to coach kids to encourage kids. You know he’s there to laugh, to joke around to lighten the mood when it’s needed and also to help coach the younger kids when that’s necessary,” said Chad Meyer.
As Patrick tries to win his 2nd and 3rd state championships next weekend in hurdles, it’s important to know that this is an event he never wanted to run when he started track.
“He was like 'I don’t want to do hurdles' because he did hurdles in middle school and I said 'don’t want to do hurdles' and I said 'okay that’s fine.' So he came out because he really wanted to do track as conditioning for football and before our first meet I said 'hey why don’t you just try this once?'” said Meyer.
“I hated hurdling in middle school. And my coach pulled me aside one day and just said go over one. So I went over a hurdle and still hated it and I told him no. Then he threw me in a varsity meet without telling me and I kinda fell in love with it,” said Adams.
That love blossomed into a passion for a sport that took him across the country last summer for the track Junior Olympics in Houston, TX.
“It was crazy, I’ve never ran on a stage that big before. Thousands of people watching me. It wasn’t my best race but it was super fun to go and just enjoy the ride,” said Adams.
The next part of his ride is just beginning. Patrick graduated from Allendale this past Thursday and will be staying close to home for his college career.
“I’m actually going to attend Cornerstone University and run for them. And I’m going to obviously go there for academics but it’s pretty cool that I’ll get to run for them too,” said Adams.
