Work ethic takes King's duo to Ivy League

By Alex Bosworth
For the Enterprise

In the world of high school track, Josh Fuller and Olivia Thomas are about as close as it comes to royalty.

Last year the duo from King's High School combined to win an almost embarrassing amount of events at the 1A State competition at Mount Tahoma Stadium.

Thomas won the girls' 800 meter race, the 1600 meter race, and competed on King's first-place 1600 meter relay team, which tied the state record for fastest time ever by finishing in four minutes, 2.95 seconds.

"In practice she usually races the guys" assistant track coach Rod Wilcox said of Thomas. "They hate it when she beats them – and she does."

Fuller, on the other hand, has won more state titles than anyone in the school's history by focusing on sprinting events. Last year he competed on the boys' first-place 1600 and 400 relay teams and won the 400 meter race. The year before, as a sophomore, Fuller won the 100 meter, 200 meter, 400 meter, and the 1600 meter relay at state.

"(Josh) takes care of every minor detail," Wilcox explained. "Whether it's getting in an extra workout in December or half-hour workout between events ... If you want to be good, do what Josh does."

Together, the two seniors have set the pace for King's track over the past four years. In 2008, the girls won their league and the Tri-District Tournament and placed fourth at state. The boys won their league, the Tri-District Tournament and won state for the second year in a row.

But track might not even be Fuller and Thomas' most impressive accomplishment.

Next year Thomas will attend Brown. Fuller will attend Yale.

Between all the training and the events, the two found the time to keep their grades up. Now they'll be attending two of the most prestigious universities in the country.

"It's definitely been difficult," Thomas said of balancing athletics and academics. "I don't get a lot of alone or free time … you can't procrastinate … I'm somewhat of a perfectionist."

"King's has taught us to think for ourselves," Fuller added. "Most students here do care … the grades are just kind of a by-product."

Their teammates are keeping up with them. A visitor to the high school's website will find, highlighted in bold, that both the King's girls and King's boys track teams won the state academic championship last year.

In other words, King's cares about winning, but it is also important to win the right way.

"As much success as we've had," Wilcox said, "We place even more emphasis on academics."

King's coaches get constant updates on how their athletes are doing in the classroom, Wilcox explained, and if they find out someone's grades are dropping, "We have a little talk with them."

"King's is a really challenging school – you get hours of homework every night," Thomas said, "… (But) the teachers really care about you."

The challenge has certainly paid off for King's top two track athletes.

Next year Thomas is interested in majoring in biology. Fuller doesn't know what he wants to focus on yet.

Both plan to run for their school's track teams, and say how they got along with the team played a role in their decision on where to go.

Thomas, the 2007 1A state champion in cross country, will also run for Brown's cross country team, though she plans to focus on track.

Already this year, Thomas has posted top 10 1A state times in the 200, 400, 800 and 1600 meter according to atheletic.net. Fuller has posted the top 1A time in the 200 and 400 meter races.

No doubt they're off to a solid start on the track. But they're going to be there as models in the classroom as well.

"The sport comes down to work ethic," Wilcox said of Fuller and Thomas' success. "Once they learn discipline, it applies to academics as well."