Friday, March 29, 2024

Acton’s Gannon Dolan sets national AAU boys 14 record in 3,000-meter run

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Last Saturday (Aug. 6), 14-year-old Acton resident Gannon Dolan made an explosive debut as a distance runner in the AAU Junior Olympics meet at North Carolina A&T University’s Aggie Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dolan set an AAU Junior Olympics national record in winning the boys 14-year-old division of the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:59.75.

Dolan, a student at Granbury’s Grace Classical Christian Academy since the second grade, had been active the past couple of years in cross country running but is relatively new to the world of track and field. He showed rapid improvement over the past few months in his long-distance running.

The AAU record Gannon broke was 9:03.73, set in 2017 by Luke Tewalt of Washington, D.C.  Quinn Sullivan of Spicewood, Texas, ran a time of 9:07.44 on Saturday to place second behind Dolan in the 3,000.

“We were in disbelief,” Gannon’s mother, Mona Dolan, told the HCN by phone. She said she was hired by the school in 2020, and organized a cross country team as one of the sports for interested Grace Classical students to join.

Gannon had previously been focused on being a cross country runner, but began to work on developing a “kick” to close out distance races in order to improve in events like the 3,000 and the 1,500-meters. In the fall of 2021, Gannon ran in six meets, and medaled in each of them.

He joined a Weatherford track club, known as Mach I, coached by Lupe Torres and Matt Mitchell — a decision that accelerated his improvement.

Mona stated in an email to the HCN that Gannon’s Mach I coaches, Lupe Torres and Matt Mitchell, are “phenomenal”, and added that they are “So knowledgeable and supportive! Gannon has learned so much and grown so much through their coaching!”

Earlier, by phone, Mona said of her son’s results, “He started getting fast.”

She noted that he began lifting weights this past spring to improve his overall strength.

Before the AAU Junior Olympic meet, Gannon was the No. 2 seed in the boys 14 division in the 3,000-meter event based on the time he posted in the regional meet. But he was already feeling that he might do something special — like breaking the national record for his age division.

“He said, ‘I think I can do it’,” Mona said of Gannon, who will be a ninth-grader at Grace Classical when the fall semester of the 2022-2023 school year begins on Aug. 15.

Earlier last week in the AAU Junior Olympics, Gannon placed third in the nation in the boys 14 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:15.10. The winner of that event, Drew Johnson of North Carolina, ran a 4:11.34, and runner-up Brandon Morrow of Virginia posted a time of 4:13.74. Gannon had entered as the No. 8 seed in that event.

With the fall sports season approaching, the next major event for Gannon will be in cross country, competing Dec. 10 in the 5K run among the boys 14 division at the USATF Nationals to be held in College Station. Gannon also intends to continue competing in the future as a member of the Mach I track club.

Looking ahead, Gannon already has a goal as a runner beyond high school.

“He wants to run in college,” Mona said of Gannon, whose 15th birthday will be in March.

Mark and Mona Dolan have two other children, who also are boys — Lincoln, age 12, and Malachi, 6. They moved to Hood County in 2014 from Arkansas. Mark Dolan is a pastor.