Perseverence: The Sean Sullivan Success Story
March 06, 2020 | Men's Track & Field, #ForBoston Files
BC's new mile record holder for indoor track is writing a new kind of hero story.
The perfect sports fable always revolves around an athlete's burning desire. A discipline becomes a muse, a constant obsession under which every day rises and sleeps. The athlete eventually understands granular pieces of practice, and training morphs into a personal proving ground.
Reality isn't built for a movie set, though, so the perfect story doesn't have to be so, well, perfect. Human flaws can introduce new elements and add flavor to the tale. They make the story more colorful with a sweeter payout for the final accomplishment.
Enter Sean Sullivan. The Boston College men's track and field athlete broke the program's indoor record in the mile with a time of 4:02.26. It's a new mark in arguably track's most glamorous event, but his story adds a flavor and wonderful taste to it. He's the kind of real student-athlete worth celebrating, one persevering through his flaws, and it all adds up to a Hollywood ending worthy of any scripted story.
"My entire career at BC has been a bit of a struggle," Sullivan said. "I didn't come in and do the things that I needed to focus in on. When I became a senior, I looked back and wasn't happy with what I felt was a lack of accomplishment. It forced me to dial in and analyze what made me tick as a human being. I realized it was running."
Sullivan entered BC as a three-sport runner, a natural, versatile piece for head coach Matt Kerr. He represented a developmental piece of the entire BC track puzzle, a tall, gifted runner with natural strength and speed. He just couldn't find the right gear to get moving.
"He came in as a strong freshman out of high school," Kerr said. "But he struggled because he just focused on some of the wrong areas. He wanted to lift hard, and he put on too much muscle mass for a miler. Things like that became (a combination) of little things that tripped him up. It wasn't from a lack of effort or desire, but he just went in the wrong direction."
"I wasn't too good about cross training into the pool or on an elliptical machine," Sullivan elaborated. "I just didn't enjoy it. I got into the gym and lifted, but the issue was that I wasn't working on runner-based muscles. Runners are like boxers where we have our racing weight, and you know you can perform well if you're in a range weight. I really went over that mark, to the point it eventually took a long time to get down to that (range) in a healthy way."
It prompted a conversation between coach and athlete, a heart-to-heart to discover an essence into why a person runs. Kerr decided Sullivan didn't need any complex solution and opted for a simpler approach. He instructed his charge to stop focusing on splits and overall performance and instead took a race-based approach to the sport. Kerr unearthed Sullivan's competitive juices by recalibrating the process into a head-to-head competition.
"We sat down at the end of that freshman year and just discussed simplifying things," Kerr said. "We got back to basics to focus on head-to-head approach, and that really set him back on track. He picked up the steeplechase in the outdoor season, which he did not run in high school, and that helped him diversify his event choices. He became able to pick and choose what he could do."
Adding the steeplechase pushed Sullivan into a new center. The newness of the event combined both the cross country and mile mentalities, feeding off one another. It's not quite a perfect oval around a track, so runners are forced to accelerate over incremental distances. The barriers and water jumps require precision focus, but the overall length of the event resembles more of a cross country race.
"For us, it's all by design," Kerr said. "We start with the outdoor track season to work our way backwards, and Sean really wanted a crack at the steeplechase. My own personal philosophy of the steeplechase combines a great cross country background with a great mile run. We talked specifically about cross country becoming a gateway to success in that event, and it made him enjoy the ride more."
It led Sullivan into a combination of success. He began training specifically for the steeplechase, but his mile time indirectly started dropping. He continued competing in the mile when indoor season started, but his training all geared towards the outdoor season. The long term focus set benchmarks, which he reached on the short term.Â
He shaved four seconds off of a mile time originally standing around 4:10 before discovering magic at Boston University's Valentine Invitational. Running in a group of 342 runners, he finished 21st but shaved another four seconds off his time. It shattered the school record, establishing a new mark with a 4:02.26 time.Â
"I had a meeting with Coach Kerr about three weeks before the Valentine Invitational," Sullivan said. "We talked about running the mile. He asked if I wanted the school record, and I shook my head because I wanted to run under four minutes. I wanted to go further than where I could go to make a bid for nationals. So it's funny that I was a little disappointed when I ran 4:02 because I set my goals so high. In that regard, I realized that even if I failed in my goals, I still came away with something pretty nice."
It was a watershed moment in his career. Everything led to that moment, from his freshman struggles through a sophomore and junior year spent redesigning and rebuilding his body profile. It qualified him as a seeded runner for the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, where he ran a 4:04.77 to finish seventh, just outside All-ACC honors, against the league's best.
"It was such a progressive process, where everything started to get better year-over-year," Sullivan said. "I just wasn't getting performances I felt that I could have had. I got away from what I had done out of high school, and my focus definitely wasn't there. I know it's there now, though, and I can tune out all the other noise to make myself the best that I can be."
It leads him into a final outdoor season for the Eagles and a run at the ACC's steeplechase elite. All throughout his mile conquest, he remained true to his training, a byproduct of Kerr's decision to work backwards from focusing on the outdoor season. It kept Sullivan honest, especially after he broke the school record, by putting him back on the road even after he achieved a benchmark.
"On the track, he's a strength and speed guy," Kerr said. "He has great wheels, but his speed comes from when he can use it late. He's great at surging. He picks up a gear with 600 meters left, then again with 400 meters, then again with 200 meters. It's a long, sustained kick.
"He played the backgrounds off of each other in that regard," he continued. "He trains as a 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter athlete, but he's racing the mile for speed. That's helped him become more efficient with top-end speed. It's all leading towards his outdoor goals, with no shortcuts. As soon as he broke the record, he got back to no-frills strength work again. And now he's getting after it, week-after-week."
The Eagles will compete this weekend at the IC4A Championships, the final team event of the indoor season, at Boston University. After a short break, the team will transition to the outdoor season, which begins on March 20 with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta.
Reality isn't built for a movie set, though, so the perfect story doesn't have to be so, well, perfect. Human flaws can introduce new elements and add flavor to the tale. They make the story more colorful with a sweeter payout for the final accomplishment.
Enter Sean Sullivan. The Boston College men's track and field athlete broke the program's indoor record in the mile with a time of 4:02.26. It's a new mark in arguably track's most glamorous event, but his story adds a flavor and wonderful taste to it. He's the kind of real student-athlete worth celebrating, one persevering through his flaws, and it all adds up to a Hollywood ending worthy of any scripted story.
"My entire career at BC has been a bit of a struggle," Sullivan said. "I didn't come in and do the things that I needed to focus in on. When I became a senior, I looked back and wasn't happy with what I felt was a lack of accomplishment. It forced me to dial in and analyze what made me tick as a human being. I realized it was running."
Sullivan entered BC as a three-sport runner, a natural, versatile piece for head coach Matt Kerr. He represented a developmental piece of the entire BC track puzzle, a tall, gifted runner with natural strength and speed. He just couldn't find the right gear to get moving.
"He came in as a strong freshman out of high school," Kerr said. "But he struggled because he just focused on some of the wrong areas. He wanted to lift hard, and he put on too much muscle mass for a miler. Things like that became (a combination) of little things that tripped him up. It wasn't from a lack of effort or desire, but he just went in the wrong direction."
"I wasn't too good about cross training into the pool or on an elliptical machine," Sullivan elaborated. "I just didn't enjoy it. I got into the gym and lifted, but the issue was that I wasn't working on runner-based muscles. Runners are like boxers where we have our racing weight, and you know you can perform well if you're in a range weight. I really went over that mark, to the point it eventually took a long time to get down to that (range) in a healthy way."
It prompted a conversation between coach and athlete, a heart-to-heart to discover an essence into why a person runs. Kerr decided Sullivan didn't need any complex solution and opted for a simpler approach. He instructed his charge to stop focusing on splits and overall performance and instead took a race-based approach to the sport. Kerr unearthed Sullivan's competitive juices by recalibrating the process into a head-to-head competition.
"We sat down at the end of that freshman year and just discussed simplifying things," Kerr said. "We got back to basics to focus on head-to-head approach, and that really set him back on track. He picked up the steeplechase in the outdoor season, which he did not run in high school, and that helped him diversify his event choices. He became able to pick and choose what he could do."
Adding the steeplechase pushed Sullivan into a new center. The newness of the event combined both the cross country and mile mentalities, feeding off one another. It's not quite a perfect oval around a track, so runners are forced to accelerate over incremental distances. The barriers and water jumps require precision focus, but the overall length of the event resembles more of a cross country race.
"For us, it's all by design," Kerr said. "We start with the outdoor track season to work our way backwards, and Sean really wanted a crack at the steeplechase. My own personal philosophy of the steeplechase combines a great cross country background with a great mile run. We talked specifically about cross country becoming a gateway to success in that event, and it made him enjoy the ride more."
It led Sullivan into a combination of success. He began training specifically for the steeplechase, but his mile time indirectly started dropping. He continued competing in the mile when indoor season started, but his training all geared towards the outdoor season. The long term focus set benchmarks, which he reached on the short term.Â
He shaved four seconds off of a mile time originally standing around 4:10 before discovering magic at Boston University's Valentine Invitational. Running in a group of 342 runners, he finished 21st but shaved another four seconds off his time. It shattered the school record, establishing a new mark with a 4:02.26 time.Â
"I had a meeting with Coach Kerr about three weeks before the Valentine Invitational," Sullivan said. "We talked about running the mile. He asked if I wanted the school record, and I shook my head because I wanted to run under four minutes. I wanted to go further than where I could go to make a bid for nationals. So it's funny that I was a little disappointed when I ran 4:02 because I set my goals so high. In that regard, I realized that even if I failed in my goals, I still came away with something pretty nice."
It was a watershed moment in his career. Everything led to that moment, from his freshman struggles through a sophomore and junior year spent redesigning and rebuilding his body profile. It qualified him as a seeded runner for the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, where he ran a 4:04.77 to finish seventh, just outside All-ACC honors, against the league's best.
"It was such a progressive process, where everything started to get better year-over-year," Sullivan said. "I just wasn't getting performances I felt that I could have had. I got away from what I had done out of high school, and my focus definitely wasn't there. I know it's there now, though, and I can tune out all the other noise to make myself the best that I can be."
It leads him into a final outdoor season for the Eagles and a run at the ACC's steeplechase elite. All throughout his mile conquest, he remained true to his training, a byproduct of Kerr's decision to work backwards from focusing on the outdoor season. It kept Sullivan honest, especially after he broke the school record, by putting him back on the road even after he achieved a benchmark.
"On the track, he's a strength and speed guy," Kerr said. "He has great wheels, but his speed comes from when he can use it late. He's great at surging. He picks up a gear with 600 meters left, then again with 400 meters, then again with 200 meters. It's a long, sustained kick.
"He played the backgrounds off of each other in that regard," he continued. "He trains as a 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter athlete, but he's racing the mile for speed. That's helped him become more efficient with top-end speed. It's all leading towards his outdoor goals, with no shortcuts. As soon as he broke the record, he got back to no-frills strength work again. And now he's getting after it, week-after-week."
The Eagles will compete this weekend at the IC4A Championships, the final team event of the indoor season, at Boston University. After a short break, the team will transition to the outdoor season, which begins on March 20 with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta.
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