All Chesterton junior Will Roberson needed to become a track star was a break and he caught one when he was cut from the soccer team

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton junior Will Roberson ran track as a freshman and sophomore, but he was a soccer player running track, not a runner playing soccer, and his performances on the track reflected that. Then he got cut from the varsity soccer team as a junior and a star was born.
Of all the remarkable performances from Chesterton athletes on the way to the Trojans winning the boys DAC and sectional meets, Roberson’s 1:59.9 in the 800 meters at the Portage sectional just might have been the most surprising. He finished third and earned a trip to Thursday’s Valparaiso regional.
Compare his sectional time to how long it took him to run two laps around the track as recently as an April 30, 2024 meet: 2:30.18. He said his best time as a sophomore was 2:16.
“I’m just happy he didn’t make the soccer team,” beaming distance coach Tom Moeller said after Roberson’s sub-2-minute half mile.
So is Roberson, although he wasn’t at the time it happened.
“Yeah, it’s working out pretty well,” Roberson said. “Getting cut didn’t affect me that much, honestly. I did cross country and was pretty good right away.”
Not this good though.
What happened at the end of his 800-meter run at the DAC meet at Lake Central the previous week made his sectional achievement all the more impressive and surprising. He finished fifth and set a personal record with a 2:02.08. Just a step or two after crossing the finish line, Roberson was on the ground.
“I was trying to stop and my toe got caught in the ground and I rolled over it and sprained it” he said. “I fell and scraped my knee pretty bad. I was in a boot for four days. I got it off on Monday.”
And Friday he ran the race of his life.
“It felt pretty good,” Roberson said after the race. “It didn’t feel too bad. It was pretty bad the day it happened. It was tender and numb.”
He also ran a leg of the 4x800 relay that finished third to earn a spot at the regional. He was thrilled to contribute to the sectional title.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “I wasn’t even here last year and now we won sectionals. It’s pretty surreal.”
The credit for breaking the 2-minute milestone belongs to teammate Spencer Martin for setting such a blazing pace, Roberson said.
“Everybody did pretty well because of that,” Roberson said.
LaPorte’s Liam Lilly won the race in 1:58.59, followed by Valparaiso’s Sam Carpenter in 1:59.69. New Prairie’s Jackson Sanford was fourth in 2:00.18 and Martin faded to fifth with a personal record 2:00.63. Martin also placed second in the 1600 meters with a time (4:29.10) a few seconds slower than his best.
The top three finishers at the regional advance to the state meet. Roberson is seeded fourth in the 800 meters. Martin is seeded third in the 1600 and sixth in the 800.
“I think today’s the first day I’ve beaten Spencer,” Roberson said after the race, adding that he can’t keep up with the notoriously hard trainer in practice. “I run with the rest of the 4x800 group.”
Sophomore Ryan Nix runs the first leg of the relay, junior Will Morgan is second, Roberson third and junior Zarek Sierazy anchors it. Not a single senior for the foursome that is seeded ninth.
Roberson thanked a few more people for the opportunity to run two races just eight days after an injury that threatened to end his season: Chesterton’s athletic training staff of Bernie Stento, Marnee Finn-Smith and Corryn Brooks.
“The first day it was really bad,” Roberson said. “I couldn’t even walk on it, but the trainers helped me a lot. Without them, I don’t think I could have been here today.”