Middle-distance runner one of province’s top track prospects

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This article was published 12/09/2023 (797 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Noah Neves was 11 when he found his calling as an athlete.

He joined his first track club in Grade 6 and no amount of exposure to hockey and soccer could shake the feeling he was always meant to be a runner.

Now 17, the St. Paul’s High School athlete has developed into one of Manitoba’s finest track and field prospects.

Last month, he certified his growing reputation by finishing fifth at the Commonwealth Youth (U18) Games in Trinidad and Tobago. Neves is the first male Manitoba middle-distance runner to run for the national team since Winnipegger Shane Dillon’s breakthrough at the U20 level six years ago.

“It was a great learning experience,” says Neves, who recently began Grade 12 at St. Paul’s. “It was unreal pressure. I was super nervous, especially the first race and I made the final and came fifth. I didn’t run a (personal best). I’m not sure why but it was a great experience.”

Andy Tough, the head coach of (local track club) Tough Track, believes Neves is only scratching the surface of his potential on the track. Neves ran the 400-metre distance with great success at the high school level but currently prefers the 600m during the indoor season and the 800m outdoors.

“I don’t think you can put a ceiling on it as long as the development keeps progressing,” says Tough of Neves’ outlook. “It’s a long-term process, right? But I think he can look forward to national teams in the future. It just depends on his work and development year to year…

“He ran that 1:52.9 indoors in Boston in February and that was what put him on the on the radar for Commonwealth. I mean, he’s very dedicated, committed and he’s driven to be his best. So, can he make an Olympic team? He’s got the drive to. But again, there’s development (that needs to happen). You don’t want to be at 17 looking at an Olympic team. You look at that next level.”

Neves looks very focused on his progress in the sport.

After the pandemic shutdown in 2020 and 2021, he’s steadily added events to his race calendar and the experience led to a breakthrough in February. He finished third in the U18 boys 800m (1:54.46) at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho and he followed that result with a first-place finish (with a personal best and provincial U18 record of 1:52.95) at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston.

In March, he placed seventh (1:54.48) at the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York.

“During COVID there was no really travelling or big events so this year has been kind of like full-on for me,” says Neves. “I was really happy with Boston but then at Simplot Games and in New York, I just couldn’t run as fast. That’s been kind of tough and I still haven’t been able to get there. But after that, there was Manitoba High School Indoor Championships, which went well. And then I kind of got a little hamstring injury that I’ve been dealing with all summer.”

While injuries can be serious and have lasting implications, Tough believes Neves has an effective methodical approach.

“He’s very good at self managing that, but we keep in good contact to make sure that things are going along fine,” says Tough. “He didn’t run as many races outdoor and there’s been constant communication during training to make sure everything looks good. I mean, if I ever noticed anything in his running gait that’s off, then I would shut him down for that workout but that didn’t happen. He sort of built up, going from 60 to 70 per cent to a full workout.”

At practice, Neves has the benefit of high-level training partners in Winnipeg, including veteran University of Manitoba middle-distance runners Dawson Mann and Tristan Allen and U of M rookie Alejandro Civetta.

Civetta, racing for Vincent Massey last spring, finished second in the varsity boys 400m behind Neves at the provincial high school championships. The two runners swapped places in the varsity boys 800m while Neves claimed a third individual medal, striking for bronze in the 200m.

With the outdoor season winding down, Neves is looking forward to some indoor racing in the coming months and he’s taking aim at the provincial U18 record of 1:20.5 in the 600m, established in 2000 by Erik Sproll.

In January, Neves will join the U20 ranks and he’s already been pondering what his competitive future could look like at the university level.

“I would like to stay in Canada,” he says. “But I’d like to keep all my options open.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca