'High energy kid.' City Male Athlete of Year Kalen Sargent finds calling running track

Indianapolis Star

6 days ago

Kalen Sargent will leave Bishop Chatard High School as a much different person than the one who entered. Sargent smiles when he thinks back to that kid. 'You think you know everything,' he said. 'I definitely changed.'
For starters, that Kalen Sargent was not a track and field athlete. He was a football player. Sargent did not run track as a freshman. But Chatard track coach Sean McGinley remembers the first day Sargent came out for track practice as a sophomore.
Long strider. Good potential.
'He helped the team,' McGinley said. 'He was more of a relay runner. He ran the 4x100 (relay) and the 200 (meters). Then, as a junior, he really developed the ability that he has now.'
The big breakthrough came during the sectional meet in Sargent's junior year. His 48.17-second time in the 400 meters won the event in a duel with North Central's Dehnm Holt, who was right behind him at 48.32 seconds.
'In May of last year, he really started developing into a 200 and 400 runner,' McGinley said. "He went 21.7 in the City meet in the 200 and 48.1 (in the sectional 400). That was kind of his big breakout those two or three weeks in a row.'
Sargent, the kid who would have never considered himself a track athlete, committed to Indiana University in February to run track. He is also the City Male Athlete of the Year for 2024-25 by a vote of the athletic directors in Marion County. The honor dates to 1950 (it grew to include female athletes in 1979) and is regarded as one of the top recognition awards for Indianapolis-area senior high school athletes.
Other finalists for the award were Crispus Attucks basketball standout Dezmon Briscoe and Cathedral football/track star Devaughn Slaughter. The award is geared toward athletic achievement, but the winners also exhibit impressive credentials in academics and in their personal lives. Generally, multi-sport athletes are given consideration over single-sport athletes.
'He brings it in practice every day,' senior teammate Phoenix Boyer said of Sargent. 'He pushes his teammates. I'll be on the ground dead in a workout after doing a hard 400, an intense workout for runners, and he'll pick me up. He's a great teammate because he pushes you a bunch. Anyone would want him on your team.'
Boyer would know. He and Sargent are part of Chatard's 4x400 relay team that set an indoor state record with a time of 3:15.92 at the state meet in late March. Sargent and Boyer, joined by Keaton Keuhr and Quinn O'Neil, are locked in a battle right behind North Central in the race for a state title.
At the sectional meet, Sargent took first in the 100 (10.85), second in the 400 (48.15) and helped the 4x400 relay team to a second-place finish (3:18.32).
'He's definitely a high energy kid in a positive way,' McGinley said of Sargent. "He's willing to do different events for the team. He started off as more of a 100 runner but he developed into a 400 runner. He's really done the 100, 200 and 400 all season.'
Sargent dropped the 200 for the run to the state meet, sticking with the 100, 400 and 4x400. He begged his coach last year to run the open 400, then set the school record in the sectional (Boyer later broke it). But Sargent found his passion, running a 46.3 split in the Dennis McNulty Invitational in late April.
'Coach called it a 'real man's race,'' Sargent said of the 400. 'I got out there and ran a fast time (in the sectional last year) and set a school record. That's when he was like, 'Oh yeah, I think we found your thing.' Before that it was more 100 and 200 and just went out there and ran. God blessed with this frame, but it's definitely a race where you have to have your mental side right. I definitely like a challenge.'
Football did not necessarily turn out like Sargent hoped, though he did play on Class 3A state championship teams as a sophomore and junior as a receiver and defensive back.
'I kind of got in my own head and it just didn't work out,' Sargent said. 'But I came out here to track and just gave it a shot and kind of took off with it. I wasn't seeing the progress like I wanted during football season, so I wanted to find something else where I could get after it and just kind of feed that hunger.'
He found the perfect outlet and the right teammates. Boyer, who has competed in track since fourth grade, said he appreciates track as a sport because he 'loves pushing to be the best version of myself.'
'I lot of it is mental,' Boyer said. 'The toughest part is finishing, staying strong. You have to get excited and have that mindset that you are going to win. If you doubt yourself, it kind of sends you down a bad hill. But if you can have that excitement and bring that energy, your teammates know what you can do, and the race is a lot easier.'
Boyer said he saw that light go off for Sargent as a junior.
'He's one of the best athletes to train with because he's one of the top runners in the state,' Boyer said. 'He's the best person I can compete with.'
Sargent is likely to run the 400 at IU. He plans on majoring in business and having a minor in meteorology, then joining the reserves and 'hopefully fly fighter jets while doing that' with the goal of becoming a commercial pilot.
But for now, he is still taking flight by running around the track.
'I've enjoyed pushing my personal limits to a new level and the team's limits to a new level,' Sargent said. 'Just seeing what we can really do and having fun at the same time.'