By Christopher Tremblay

A lot of high school athletes get involved in a secondary sport to stay in shape for their primary sport. Such is the case with Norwood’s Dylan Hamwey, a basketball player first, and runner second. The now junior had never taken part in any type of running prior to his freshmen year at Norwood High School, now he finds himself a main piece to the Mustang cross country squad.

“I began playing basketball in second grade and it has been my number one sport since,” Hamwey said. “When I was playing for my AAU basketball team, Mass Premiere, I was looking for something to do to stay in shape for basketball season and my coach told me that running was a perfect way to do so. I decided to try it out and found that it was something that I wanted to take to the next level.”

Hamwey found that high school cross country practices were not easy that freshmen campaign, but still he pushed himself to be the best. Unfortunately, his mother had to interject to remind him that winning wasn’t everything.

“I am one that always wants to win, and my mother told me my freshmen year that winning was probably not going to happen right away, especially taking part in a new sport,” Hamwey said. “But I wanted to win, and I wanted to win now. It gave me the determination and motivation to push myself even further.”

Coach Matt Curran saw something in the young runner and was pleased at his grit to be the best in something that he just began undertaking.

“Dylan is the best cross-country runner I’ve had over the last three years,” the Norwood Coach said. “He was strong as a freshman, improved as a sophomore, and is leading the way in the early goings of his junior year.”

During his first year with the Mustangs, Hamwey found himself behind another freshman, Dylan O’Brien, in the early goings of the season. That year, the two Dylan’s broke the Norwood freshman school record running on the Norwood course. O’Brien holds the record with an 18:34 time, but Hamwey is close behind him with a time of 18:48.

That first year also found the first-year runner not only invited to take part in the Invitationals, but the Tri-Valley League Meet as well, where he was named an All-Star for his performance.

“I didn’t expect to win as I was a freshman going up against a lot of the top runners in the state,” Hamwey said. “It was only to be used as an experience, one in which I could grow with.”

During his Invitational runs, Hamwey had finishes of 24th and 10th, while finishing 25th at the TVL. With his decent stats for a first-year runner, Hamwey knew that if he wanted to improve he was going to have to run more during the summer months to get ready for his sophomore season.

“That first year I didn’t know what to expect or how serious I would become with the sport or if I would even want to do more,” Hamwey said.

Hamwey found his sophomore season to be much tougher than he expected, especially with all the Covid rules. Despite having to wear a mask while running, he was still able break 18 minutes with a personal best of 17:59.

With Covid numbers rising, the league was forced to cancel the League Meet, but the Norwood runner still managed to find himself named to the All-Star team once again.

“Being named to the All-Star team that year really meant a lot to me,” Hamwey  said. “I also realized that it wasn’t going to be my last All-Star award.”

Coach Curran couldn’t have agreed more.

“Being named to the All-Star team his freshmen year was a surprise to all of us,” Curran said. “But to be recognized again the following year by all the coaches, despite not having a league meet, was impressive.”

 Last year’s cross-country season prepared the then sophomore for his basketball season in more ways than he could have expected.

“Having to wear a mask last season during cross-country season I think gave me an advantage during basketball season,” Hamwey said. “I saw a lot of basketball players struggling with their stamina due to issues with breathing while playing with masks on. I found that I wasn’t tired and felt that it was carry over from the cross-country season already haven worn the mask.”

Coming into this year, Hamwey has been prepared to run in his third cross-country season, and although he has yet to win a meet, he has picked right up where he left off at the end of last season in terms of time. His goals are to once again become a TVL All-Star while looking to decrease his time, and becoming a top 10 runner at the TVL Meet.

“I’m not exactly sure if it is possible, but there have been a lot of runners who have graduated since my last TVL Meet,” Hamwey said. “It is definitely my top goal, but I am also finding myself as a leader to this young team hoping to help them improve their times while winning some meets.”

Although college is still a few years away, Hamwey is hoping to continue his athletic play on the collegiate level although it will most likely be on the basketball court instead of the woods for a cross-country team. 

“It (running) is in my mind, but my first priority is basketball and I’m hoping to play in college,” Hamwey said. “However, if I don’t make the basketball team, I do want to play a sport in college.”

Once again, Coach Curran firmly believes that if Hamwey wants a future in running, it will definitely be there for him.

In addition to cross-country, Hamwey also runs track during the spring season. He primarily runs the 2-mile where he has a personal best of 10:33, which he posted at the Sectionals. While it was cross-country that got him interested in running, the junior finds track to be a better interest.

Coach Curran has also said that in addition to being an impressive cross-country runner, Hamwey is a much better distance runner for the track team.

“He is an incredible distance runner,” the Coach said. “In the 2-mile in the Divisional Meet, he ran a 10:33, the best time at Norwood in some eight or nine years.”

With the rest of the season in front of him, Hamwey is looking not only for that third All-Star award but hoping to get to the post-season and showing the rest of the TVL he is a top 10 runner.