Masters Track and Field superstar and captain, Emmanuel Harris will officially continue his running career at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Harris is the only athlete in the class of ‘24 to officially commit to a D1 program.
Harris always knew that he wanted to play a sport in college, but track and field wasn’t originally his first choice. Basketball was Harris’s first love, and he even played on the boys’ varsity basketball team in his junior year.
But during the spring season of his junior year, Emmanuel Harris decided to take a chance and run track, and he absolutely loved it and hasn’t looked back since. Harris explained how track brought much peace to him. He said, “It’s very therapeutic. When you’re in a race, you just tune everything out. It’s like nothing else matters. Just pushing as hard as I can and crossing the finish line.”
“It helps me deal with a lot of things like stress and anxiety,” he continued. “I look forward to practice and look forward to going to meets”
Since first trying track, he’s been running all three seasons: cross country, indoor winter track and outdoor spring track. He’s also been extremely successful throughout his short Masters career. He holds individual school records for the triple jump, 110 meter hurdles, 300 meter hurdles and 400 meter hurdles. On top of that, he’s a part of the group that holds the school record for 4 by 400 and 4 by 100 relay records.
Harris is grateful for his teammates and coaches here at Masters and is appreciative for the lessons they’ve given him. He said, “They’ve helped me grow so much. Not even just my track career but just as a person. They taught me to be like a team player and help and uplift people. There’s no other team that’s going to be like this.”
Though Harris will miss his team, he’s ready for the next level of competition. He said, “There’s a different level of competition when you get to that higher level. And I look forward to embracing that and trying to compete to the best of my ability.”
Senior co-captain of the track team, Charlie Milward said that Harris is an integral part of the team and that he will be missed. He said, “I’m extremely excited for him and I desperately want to see how far he’ll go. That being said, it does make me sad that I will no longer be his teammate and I wish I had a few more seasons left with him. Nevertheless Emmanuel’s recruitment is extremely well deserved.”
Harris was so shocked but excited when he first got a letter that Marist College was interested in him. He said, “After I got the offer from Marist, it was insane to me that in a year of progression, I could be running D1 track and that was just, it was insane.”
Harris had the opportunity to visit the campus and sit in on a practice, and he was wowed by the culture they had at Marist led by the assistant coach Billy Poole-Harris and he felt like he could blossom there. Emmanuel Harris said, “Coach Harris wasn’t like a traditional coach. He treats you like a family member. It was that family aspect that drew me towards the team.”
Harris wanted the Masters community to remember to always keep an open mind.
Harris looks to make an immediate impact at Marist’s track and field program. Marist is a part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MACC) where he’ll be running against some of the best college runners in the country.
