Saugatuck senior Benny Diaz is fast, really fast.
"Throughout middle school I was really fast in track," Diaz said, "and in football and I was always the fastest in baseball."
He used track to help with speed and athleticism for football and baseball.
Baseball was his first love and the sport he thought he would play at the next level.
But last year he suffered an elbow injury which changed things.
"After that I really fell in love with hurdling, sprinting, the process of getting faster," Diaz said. "I've really enjoyed it the past couple of years."
While he isn't pitching, Diaz continues to play baseball for the Trailblazers as well as run track.
"It is always a big time commitment to do both," Diaz said. "A lot of late nights doing homework, sometimes in the morning. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm completely fine with doing both, I have fun with both, have great success in both."
Diaz won the state championship last year in both hurdle events.
Baseball and track star, stop me if you've heard this before.
Blake Dunn did similar things at Saugatuck not that long ago.
Diaz broke Dunn's school record in the 110 meter hurdles, Dunn still owns the 300 hurdles record.
"They have a lot of similarities in that they are going to win it doesn't matter," 16th year Saugatuck Track coach Rick Bauer said. "You can trust that they are going to win, they are going to make it happen somehow, if they don't they are going to die trying."
One thing Diaz has that Blake does not is a cool nickname.
Benny "The Jet" Diaz, like Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez from the movie The Sandlot, makes perfect sense with the first name, speed and love for baseball.
"Just announcing Benny "The Jet Diaz" on the main speakers, it was pretty funny hearing that the first time but now I'm just used to it."
Diaz is hoping to live up to the nickname next month at the state finals.
He will defend in both hurdle events and last year was second in the 100 meter dash and third in the 200.
"Win four events," Diaz said when asked about his goals. "I think it's going to be a lot easier this year and I think I'm really able to do it this year versus last year when it was just a goal, now I think it's a real possibility for me.
Diaz appears to have a bright future in the sport.
"I think he has a real shot at representing our country someday," Bauer said. "U20 he's like sixth in the world in the hurdles, that's crazy. I don't think people realize how good that is."
Diaz is signed to run at the University of Michigan next year and while he is serious about being great as an athlete, he has other priorities too.
"Education is one of the biggest things that I still need to focus on," Diaz said. "It's not like if I'm this freak athlete it's not like I can just disregard school."
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