Current Enfield High senior Ryan Debarber will be attempting to walk on to the division one track team at the University of North Carolina Wilmington next year.
Track is in the Debarber blood, especially throwing javelin. His older brothers Collin and Brendan were great javelin throwers at Enfield High and it clearly did not skip Ryan.
Throughout this season, Ryan has continued to progress and break records that his brothers held for the Eagles. His best throw this season is 181.1 feet, which is the Enfield High School record since Fermi and Enfield merged to one school.
While his brothers were great throwers in high school, his father Pat competed at the collegiate level at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Pat has had a big influence on the success of his three kids as throwers. If you’ve ever been down to the Enfield High turf on a random Saturday, you would find Pat working on javelin technique with his sons.
When I asked Ryan about how he would prepare to walk on, he said “Over the offseason I will be doing a lot of weightlifting and javelin drills to improve as an athlete.” Being a walk on is tough because a team can just cut you whenever they want because you aren’t a scholarship athlete.
Walk ons are usually some of the hardest workers on a team because they’re trying to get on scholarship. I’ve worked out with Ryan in the past and have been a teammate of his and there is no question on his work ethic to improve as an athlete.
Ryan is excited about the opportunity. He said “I’m really looking forward to joining a good track program and being able to take my skills to another level.”
The whole Enfield community is rooting for Ryan to make the Seahawks track squad and represent the 06082 zip code.