Photo: Westbrook Christian senior Sage Robertson signed a track and field scholarship with the University of Alabama at Huntsville on May 18. Pictured, sitting, from left: brother Austin, dad Chad, Sage, mom Jamie. Pictured, standing, from left: Westbrook track and field coach Seth Ford, Westbrook assistant athletic director Holly Ostendorf. (Courtesy of Westbrook Christian School)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Sage Robertson’s versatility in track and field paid off in a big way on May 18.
The Westbrook Christian senior signed a track and field scholarship with the University of Alabama at Huntsville on May 18.
“If someone would have told me when I was younger that I’d be running track in college, I would have said ‘no way.’ I couldn’t have done this without God, my family, my girlfriend my coaches and my teammates. I’m blessed, for sure.”
Robertson competed in 10 events this past spring, including the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes, the 110-meter hurdles, the high jump, the long jump, the pole vault, the discus, the javelin and the shot put. He finished in the top 10 in every one of those events and medaled in five, including a third-place bronze in both the 400-meter dash and pole vault in the Class 2A state meet in Cullman.
Robertson helped the Warriors placed seventh out of 36 teams at the state meet.
At the indoor track state meet in February, Robertson earned the second-place silver medal in the 800-meter dash and the third-place bronze in the long jump.
At the AHSAA state decathlon competition on May 17 in Hoover, Robertson finished 13th of 73 participants, with only 6A or 7A competitors finishing ahead of him. That fine showing should serve Robertson well in college, as he will compete in the decathalon. The demanding event includes the 100 and 400-meter dashes, long jump, shot put, high jump, 110-meter hurdles, dis-cus, pole vault, javelin and the 1500-meter run.
“[Westbrook track and field] Coach [Seth] Ford put me in different events to get me ready [for that decathalon],” said Robertson, who plans on studying kinesiology at UAH. “The [regular season] meets were kind of practice for the decathlon. I wanted to [finish] higher up (on May 17), but looking back at it, I can see that it was a pretty good accomplishment, especially for a guy from a small 2A school.”
Robertson said that prior to the start of 2021-22 indoor season, he and his dad Chad compared his times to the decathletes at UAH.
“We saw that my times weren’t too far off to their times, and some of mine were a little bit better, so went sent our times in [to UAH] and messaged [UAH track and field] Coach [David] Cain.
Cain invited Roberson for a tour of the UAH campus and offered him a scholarship shortly thereafter. Robertson will join 2021 Southside graduate Will Anglea on the Charger roster.
Given that the Westbrook campus currently offers little in the way of track and field training,
Robertson is looking forward to utilizing the UAH program.
“I’m just looking forward to going up there and having some facilities to practice on,” he said. “I had to travel a lot over the past year to different places to get my work in.”
“Sage obviously had a spectacular year,” said Ford. “His goal from the onset was to do as much as he could throughout the season so he would be ready for the decathlon at Hoover. Sage literally did just about event that you could do. If he would have focused on just one or maybe two events, he probably could have medaled. But finishing 13th out of 73 in the decathlon is a pretty good accomplishment.
“It takes a lot of hard work to be that good in that many events, and I’m glad he’ll have the opportunity to compete at the next level. UAH is one of the top teams in the Gulf South Conference and all the coaches there are top-notch, so the sky’s the limit for Sage when he gets into that program.”
Ford noted that Robertson functioned as an additional coach.
“Sage is knowledgeable in multiple events. After he did his work at practice, you’d see him helping someone over by the jumping pit or helping someone off the starting block. He and our other nine seniors were great leaders who at slept and breathed track. So it wasn’t much of a surprise that they were all so successful. It really was an outstanding group that will be a big void to fill.”