Apr. 10—The question for Ethan Anderson coming out of middle school was: Is he a hurdler, or isn’t he?
Anderson wasn’t too sure. But Arron Deck, then the Glacier High boys track coach, was.
“I was more of a 400 guy in middle school,” Anderson said Tuesday, standing on the infield at Legends Stadium during the Kalispell Time Trials. “I walked into Coach Deck’s office, and I was like, ‘I think I’m not going to do the 110 hurdles. I think I’m just doing the 400 and the 300 hurdles.’
“He was like, ‘Ethan, you know how long I’ve been coaching? A long time. You’re hurdling.’ He made me hurdle, and then I fell in love with it.”
By May 27 of 2023 Anderson, then a sophomore, was the State AA 110-meter hurdles champion.
“The biggest thing was Deck was on him already,” said Connor Fuller, who was an assistant coach during Anderson’s freshman season, then took over the boys program when Deck retired. “He was like, ‘Hey this young man is special. He’s got it.’
“In track, it’s hard to find those guys. He’s one of those young men who has it.”
From that race at the 2023 State AA meet through last season, Anderson won 11 straight high hurdles races. Then came the 2024 State AA meet in Great Falls and he fell in the preliminaries. The streak was over; he didn’t make the final.
It was a rough start to state, but it also set the stage for an impressive rally.
Anderson’s time in the 300 hurdles the next day in Great Falls was 38.05 seconds. That broke his own school record, set 16 days before at a dual (38.37). On that day he broke the exiting school record of 38.44, by Aaron Robinson in 2016.
Robinson also owned Glacier’s 110 hurdles record of 14.42, before Anderson ran under that twice last season, including a time of 14.27 at the Pilcher Top 10 meet.
Anderson owes his success partly to genetics, since he stands 6-foot-2 and has good sprinter’s speed — fast enough to place sixth in the 200 in Great Falls (22.66).
Then there’s coaching.
“Freshman year I had coach (Jim) Kola,” Anderson said. “He really taught me to love the hurdles and taught me the fundamentals. Sophomore and junior year and this year, Coach (Grady) Bennett and Coach (Jimmy) Gladden have been helping me with my technique and more of the mental game — of staying locked in even if I have one bad race.”
That one race hung with him a while.
“I was supposed to win last year and falling in the trials, it hurt,” he said. “Through the fall I was still kind of feeling it, just in the back of my mind. But it was in the past and I had to get over it. It kind of motivated me to get ready for this outdoor season.”
As for the day of: “I was definitely a mess,” he said. “But I just had to realize, I still have a day and a half left of this meet and I’ve got to score as many points for this team as possible.”
“I couldn’t have been more proud of how he rallied,” Fuller said. “When you run the hurdles, that’s part of the risk: You hit a hurdle, and things don’t go your way.
It was pretty devastating, and he responded with another level of relentless effort, we call it. He won the 300s, sets the school record and runs right with the Montana record for half a race, and then runs the 200 and places. It was an incredible response and that’s the kind of guy he is. He has a strong mental edge and is able, when it matters, to find that edge.”
The bad news about that 300 hurdles race at state, not that Anderson would call it that: He finished second to Gallatin’s Nash Coley, whose time of 36.91 shattered the all-class record.
By this time next year, Anderson should be running alongside Coley for Montana State University. He landed with the Bobcats after reaching out to multiple colleges. Montana and Montana State were the biggest pursuers, he said.
The Bobcats are completing an indoor facility that will improve on those inside Breeden Field House.
“They’ll have a full 300-meter track, which will be great,” he said. “Their coaches are great and I’ll be able to compete with Nash Coley again. I love competing with him.”
A busy and competitive senior season lies in between. The Wolfpack host Butte High for a dual Friday at Glacier High’s track complex; the Crosstown meet is next Tuesday at Legends and the Swede Dahlberg Invitation is in Missoula next Friday.
“There’s a really good class of hurdlers his age,” Fuller said. “Capital has a kid (Oliver Mow), and Hellgate (Corbin Weltien). I’m not sure the state of Montana has had better hurdles, this deep, in a long time. It’s cool that he’s one of the guys and that he’s really friendly with them.”
Big Sky’s Cormack Batt and Flathead’s Lane Chivers are in the group.
“There are three or four returning seniors, and a lot of good younger kids that are going to push us,” Anderson said. “I’m definitely excited for the Dahlberg that’s coming up soon, to race against most of the past guys.
“We’re like a family. Every PR, we text. It’s a good rivalry.”
The question for Ethan Anderson coming out of middle school was: Is he a hurdler, or isn’t he?
Anderson wasn’t too sure. But Arron Deck, then the Glacier High boys track coach, was.
“I was more of a 400 guy in middle school,” Anderson said Tuesday, standing on the infield at Legends Stadium during the Kalispell Time Trials. “I walked into Coach Deck’s office, and I was like, ‘I think I’m not going to do the 110 hurdles. I think I’m just doing the 400 and the 300 hurdles.’
“He was like, ‘Ethan, you know how long I’ve been coaching? A long time. You’re hurdling.’ He made me hurdle, and then I fell in love with it.”
By May 27 of 2023 Anderson, then a sophomore, was the State AA 110-meter hurdles champion.
“The biggest thing was Deck was on him already,” said Connor Fuller, who was an assistant coach during Anderson’s freshman season, then took over the boys program when Deck retired. “He was like, ‘Hey this young man is special. He’s got it.’
“In track, it’s hard to find those guys. He’s one of those young men who has it.”
From that race at the 2023 State AA meet through last season, Anderson won 11 straight high hurdles races. Then came the 2024 State AA meet in Great Falls and he fell in the preliminaries. The streak was over; he didn’t make the final.
It was a rough start to state, but it also set the stage for an impressive rally.
Anderson’s time in the 300 hurdles the next day in Great Falls was 38.05 seconds. That broke his own school record, set 16 days before at a dual (38.37). On that day he broke the exiting school record of 38.44, by Aaron Robinson in 2016.
Robinson also owned Glacier’s 110 hurdles record of 14.42, before Anderson ran under that twice last season, including a time of 14.27 at the Pilcher Top 10 meet.
Anderson owes his success partly to genetics, since he stands 6-foot-2 and has good sprinter’s speed — fast enough to place sixth in the 200 in Great Falls (22.66).
Then there’s coaching.
“Freshman year I had coach (Jim) Kola,” Anderson said. “He really taught me to love the hurdles and taught me the fundamentals. Sophomore and junior year and this year, Coach (Grady) Bennett and Coach (Jimmy) Gladden have been helping me with my technique and more of the mental game – of staying locked in even if I have one bad race.”
That one race hung with him a while.
“I was supposed to win last year and falling in the trials, it hurt,” he said. “Through the fall I was still kind of feeling it, just in the back of my mind. But it was in the past and I had to get over it. It kind of motivated me to get ready for this outdoor season.”
As for the day of: “I was definitely a mess,” he said. “But I just had to realize, I still have a day and a half left of this meet and I’ve got to score as many points for this team as possible.”
“I couldn’t have been more proud of how he rallied,” Fuller said. “When you run the hurdles, that’s part of the risk: You hit a hurdle, and things don’t go your way.
It was pretty devastating, and he responded with another level of relentless effort, we call it. He won the 300s, sets the school record and runs right with the Montana record for half a race, and then runs the 200 and places. It was an incredible response and that’s the kind of guy he is. He has a strong mental edge and is able, when it matters, to find that edge.”
The bad news about that 300 hurdles race at state, not that Anderson would call it that: He finished second to Gallatin’s Nash Coley, whose time of 36.91 shattered the all-class record.
By this time next year, Anderson should be running alongside Coley for Montana State University. He landed with the Bobcats after reaching out to multiple colleges. Montana and Montana State were the biggest pursuers, he said.
The Bobcats are completing an indoor facility that will improve on those inside Breeden Field House.
“They’ll have a full 300-meter track, which will be great,” he said. “Their coaches are great and I’ll be able to compete with Nash Coley again. I love competing with him.”
A busy and competitive senior season lies in between. The Wolfpack host Butte High for a dual Friday at Glacier High’s track complex; the Crosstown meet is next Tuesday at Legends and the Swede Dahlberg Invitation is in Missoula next Friday.
“There’s a really good class of hurdlers his age,” Fuller said. “Capital has a kid (Oliver Mow), and Hellgate (Corbin Weltien). I’m not sure the state of Montana has had better hurdles, this deep, in a long time. It’s cool that he’s one of the guys and that he’s really friendly with them.”
Big Sky’s Cormack Batt and Flathead’s Lane Chivers are in the group.
“There are three or four returning seniors, and a lot of good younger kids that are going to push us,” Anderson said. “I’m definitely excited for the Dahlberg that’s coming up soon, to race against most of the past guys.
“We’re like a family. Every PR, we text. It’s a good rivalry.”
