Local high school track phenom, Alex Topini, makes great strides

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — After a successful cross country and track season, Alex Topini, a soon-to-be-senior at College Park High School, believes he can push the envelope even further his final year as a Cavalier.

Topini was introduced to competitive running in the 6th grade while living in Connecticut. After the 7th grade, he moved to The Woodlands and started running with his junior high track team. He later went to the meeting for College Park’s cross country and track team as he transitioned into high school. He then decided that he would rigorously follow the training material while he was visiting family in Italy for the summer and become a top competitor.

“I told myself that I would do everything it said and do it right,” Topini said. “Once I came back to train with the team, I still wasn’t great, but I was getting there.”

Knowing that he was improving was all the motivation Topini needed. He aimed to stay with the top runners during his first high school race, but in the last 400 meters, he saw that the best runner was within his reach. Topini won.

“At that point, it kind of dawned on me that I could actually be a good runner,” Topini said. “That steamrolled process has gone over for the last two years.”

Earning a spot on the varsity team as a sophomore meant running with those he looked up to, including Connor Meaux, who is now running track at Rice University. As he trained with the top runners, Topini was inspired to rise with his teammates. Now, as an upcoming senior, he hopes to serve as a role model for the younger athletes.

“By sophomore year I was on the varsity team and was actually racing [Connor]. I actually got to know him really well and train with him,” Topini said. “Once I got to the point where I was only five or six seconds behind him, I got to understand what he was doing. Now, I’m kind of hoping that I can reverse it and help people and act as a role model for other people as I go into my last year.”

As one of the oldest runners on a young team, Topini had the opportunity to step into a leadership role and took his cross country team all the way to the State Championship where they finished fourth place. While disappointed by their results, the Cavaliers were fueled into track season. Topini won his first race at Katy Seven Lakes where he used his time as a starting point. Three meets into the season, Topini beat his personal record and now has a mile time of 4:15.2, 800-meter time of 1:59 and a 3200-meter time of 9:36.

At the District Meet, Alex ran the one-mile and placed second and advanced to the next round.

“Our coach told us to sit on the first guy and wait until our moment and go for the kick,” Topini said. “I was practicing to shoot midway through the race, trying to drop people by taking off and accelerating around them. That was kind of what we did, so that spread out the race a lot. That got me out, and I placed second.”

With the high caliber of competition in the 16-6A district, Topini said that comparatively, the Area Meet is a significantly easier race. He placed fourth with a time of 4:20. Topini’s season ended the following week at Regionals. He placed fourth and needed to place second to advance to State.

“That race is kind of hard to explain, but you sometimes just get caught up in the excitement of it, and there’s so much going on,” Topini said. “That ended my season for me, but our coach said if you get beat in a race, the person who beat you is better than you on that day, but that doesn’t mean that they’re better than you. That just means at that time in that race, they were the better competitors.”

Although disappointed, he never stopped his training and began working with one of his teammates, Bryce Quigley, to help him in the final race of the season.

“Even though I didn’t make it out of Regionals, I still trained and helped out my teammate, Bryce, to train all the way through State,” Topini said. “I did all the workouts with him and kept him in check so that he wouldn’t slack off and that he’d be ready to go. He ended up getting sixth at State, which was pretty impressive.”

Topini credits his much of his athletic growth to a confident mindset. No longer does he compare himself to other runners or spend time on the computer looking at record times of top-athletes. Now, he knows the only thing worth comparing himself to is his own time. Not only does he race for himself, but he races for his team’s success.

“You get out literally as much as you put in. If you show up and do every single thing you’re supposed to do, you can be successful. There are no strings attached,” Topini said. “Even though it’s not competitive in the way that soccer or football would be, it’s still very team-oriented. I’m not just racing for myself. I’m raising for my teammates, and I’m racing for all of College Park.”