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May 21, 20225 min
The Stride Report had a chance to chat with CSU-Pueblo's Reece Sharman-Newell, a Division Two superstar who has emerged as one of the best 800 meter runners in the NCAA, regardless of division. Sharman-Newell, who hails from the United Kingdom, is a true freshman who has run 1:45 for 800 meters this spring, a mark that sits at NCAA #2 all-time in Division Two. He has run under 1:50 three different times this season and has run no slower than 1:48 on the outdoor oval this year. He has run 3:48 for 1500 meters at altitude (twice), earning a conversion as fast as 3:43.
Thank you to Reece for taking the time to chat with us and answer a few of our questions!
I was always full of potential and got by on talent alone. I never really applied myself to the sport and would train one or twice a week, nothing else, and that be that.
It was, in fact, my coaches back home who initially setup for me to come to the States. Before that, it wasn’t even something I had thought of.
My home coach knew of Coach Morris through Thomas Staines, as we are both from the same club, and they got talking. Coach Morris offered me a scholarship and I couldn’t turn down such a great opportunity. It really was make or break for me at that moment.
I never looked at any other schools, I trusted Coach Morris. His plan for me, along with his knowledge and his mindset, was exactly that of a coach who would turn me into the best version of myself in the time I am with him.
I knew what I was capable of and I just wanted to show that to everyone else. I didn’t have too many specific of goals, I just wanted to crack down on my time and make the NCAA Championships my freshman year.
My age didn’t phase me, I always strive to be the best and I know that I have the potential to do so, and that's why I wanted to compete with the top guys in the sport as a freshman.
Indoor track didn’t go as hoped. I originally aimed for indoor national meet in the 800 meters, but unfortunately I was injured throughout the indoor season and was, in all honesty, quite worried I’d be just sat watching from the stands during outdoors too.
I didn’t race much indoors and my times were obviously a reflection of me being injured, and I consequently didn’t even qualify for the indoor national meet in the 800 meters, which is quite ironic now. I focused mainly on getting healthy, and managed to overcome the majority of my injury in time to run the DMR at the indoor national meet instead, and split a 1:47.
It was at that point that I knew what outdoors would bring…
Finally getting a quick time on paper was such a relief. I didn’t have to keep telling people what I was capable of, I instead began to put it to practice. Opening with a 1:47 definitely turned some heads, to most people, I had just come out of nowhere.
However, to me, my coaches, and the athletes I’ve trained with, this wasn’t much of a shock. I had been so restricted by my injury, and not fully applying myself to the sport prior to attending CSU-Pueblo, that once I began training consistently here, my real ability began to shine through, so much so that 1:47 didn’t look like the limit at all.
I mean, the 1:45 certainly proved that!
Running 1:45 in my second 800 meter race of the season was a great great feeling. The race itself was an experience that will stick round for a while, running alongside my training partners and finishing 1-2-3, all running PBs, was a one of a kind feeling.
One issue I’ve always faced is not really believing in my true potential, but after running 1:45, It certainly woke me up. The sky is the limit currently.
I am more relived than surprised. Cutting time down so fast was definitely a nice surprise, but after training consistently, I became confident in my ability, and knew it was coming sooner or later.
I have never really trained like a 1:51 man. I cranked out some nasty sessions that no real 1:51 man could. I was only really a 1:51 guy due to being injured. I was out of the UK season the year prior to coming to college as a result of my injury, and thought it best just to get one time in before coming out here.
I dropped a 1:51 mark off of no real training and whilst still overcoming an injury, so I just took it and rolled with it. I didn’t overcome the injury fully until towards the end of the indoor season, so all the times up until that point were just never a fair reflection of my ability.
The field is stacked. I feel like there is a great amount of respect amongst the athletes for each other’s ability. This year has to be one of the fastest ever, and the standard has increased significantly. The level of competition has brought the best out of a lot of the guys clearly, and made the field step up a gear.
I’m heading into next weekend confident that I will give my all. The great thing about championship running is that there is never a clear winner, anything could happen. There are some great guys in the field and it’s anyone's game, to say otherwise is silly.
I’m excited to run in such a race and am prepared for just how tough it may be.
I don’t know what to tell you, Coach Morris is a just a cheat-code…
We have such an incredible infrastructure around us, with the amazing facilities we have along with the insane talent we have in our training group. Training with the likes of Thomas Staines, Rob Heppenstall, Nathan Hood, Nikolaus Franzmair and Kaleb Tipton, definitely encourages some crazy performances…
That’s a group with four guys sub-1:47, not to mention the talented guys who haven’t raced properly yet, such as Jack Dickson, who trains like he could drop a 1:46 tomorrow.
Finding a group with this amount of talent, all in one place, is extremely rare. We are just lucky to be able to say that’s exactly what we have. And what’s even crazier is that this is just the beginning...