By Kim J. Harmon

 

If Peter Terrance had been able to make it through that first mile when running with his friend, Ryan Shanley, about four years ago then who knows where he would be right now.

As it was, he couldn’t make it through that first mile and, gosh, that bothered him so much that – ironically – he went on to become one of the top runners at Newtown High School.

And in his senior year, Peter – known as P.T. to his buddies – won a 600-meter indoor track championship last winter and then, this spring, won a 300-meter intermediate hurdle and (had a share in) a 4x400 relay championship. Those accomplishments earned him the Newtown High School Male Athlete of the Year Award (chosen by The Newtown Bee).

A Tough Mile

Peter Terrance, 19, may have found out he was pretty fast when running around during recess at Hawley School years ago, but he never put that skill to good use (mainly because he did not have any endurance to go with it).

But shortly before his freshman year at Newtown High School, his friend Ryan Shanley (heading into his sophomore year and second year with the cross country team) was over the house and said, hold on, he had to put his three or four miles in.

“I said I would go with him,” said Peter, “but after that first mile I had to start walking. I was so mad about that, I had to try out for the (cross country) team. Those first two weeks were the hardest of my life.”

Oh, it got easier as the season progressed – but not that much easier. His first race was 30 minutes (for three miles), his second was 24 minutes (“that was a good boost for my morale,” said Peter), and his third was 22 minutes.

He did continue to progress and since then (“I wasn’t a good cross country runner until my junior year,” said Peter), he has shaved about four more minutes off his time. Last fall, he finished 31st at the SWCs.

It is not a question of endurance anymore, but those long distances just aren’t his specialty.

The shorter distances, the sprints … now those are a specialty.

Last winter, Peter – after surveying the events and measuring up the competition – chose to run a relatively new event, the 600-meters, at the SWC indoor track championships. And all he did was turn in a SWC record of 1:29.48 to win the title.

“I hadn’t run that event,” said Peter, a captain on that team, “and no one wanted to run it. There was a lot of good runners in some of the other events and since I knew some of the top runners in the 600, I decided to jump in.”

Jumping (or hurdling) – that’s another specialty.

As well as he has done with the discipline, Peter did not start leaping the hurdles until the winter of 2001-02, his junior year. And even then he only did it as a lark (“That’s what you did in indoor track,” he said. “You try something for fun.”).

That lark turned into something pretty good.

Last spring, Peter captured the 110-meter high hurdle title at the SWC championships (“I don’t know how I won that,” he said) and this past spring he won the 300-meter intermediate hurdle title. His effort (which included a leg in the 4x400 relay) helped the Nighthawks – who finished 9-5 during the regular season – capture third at the SWC meet.

“I have to admit,” he said, “we were a little afraid of this year. We had lost a lot of people. But with guys like (Phil) Zencey, (Peter) Dittmar, Matt Miller in the pole vault, (Eric) Taylor, (Tim) Robinson and (Dan) McIlrath we had most things covered.”

That’s a lot of accomplishment for a guy who has his share of nagging injuries. In his first year with the indoor team Peter suffered an odd impact injury – a chip on his pelvic bone. And among other things over the course of the last four years, he has also dislocated an elbow.

“I have had a lot of injuries,” said Peter. “But that comes with the sport.”

Those injuries won’t produce a lot of fond memories, but that’s okay since he has plenty of other fond memories to look back on –

 

wBeating New Milford in the 4x800.

wFinishing second to Stratford two years ago in the SWC championship (“We were all waiting for it,” he said, “had worked hard for it and really wanted it. At least we were happy we had beaten New Milford).

wBreaking the 4x400 school record at the CIAC State Open (“It was hilarious,” he said, “because we had run our worst race the week before.”).

wAnd the enjoyable atmosphere of his junior cross country season (“It was the first year I started competing,” he said, “instead of just participating.”).

Peter will be moving on to the University of Connecticut in the fall. Cross country is probably out of the question, but he wants to take a crack at the indoor and outdoor track teams. And if he doesn’t make it, that’s okay.

At least he will have more time to study (chemical engineering).