Braeydon Seymour sets fast pace for high school career
photo by Matthew Dearolph
Sophomore Brayden Seymour comes in second for the 1600 meter event with a time of 4:27.09, only six seconds off from the school record.
Sophomore Braeydon Seymour rounded the curve for the final 100 meter stretch. He pushed his body to its limit, passing one runner and then another to cross the finish line and place third in the 1600 meter regional track meet to advance to states.
Last Saturday on May 1 Seymour was able to advance from the FHSAA 4A regionals at Flagler Palm Coast High School to states in both the 1600 and 3200 meter events. He got third place in the region for the 1600 and sixth in the region for the 3200.
“I felt good in my performance at regionals, I wasn’t able to PR in either event, but it’s a cool feeling to qualify for both events and gives me a chance to race against the best runners in the state,” Seymour said.
On April 16 Seymour competed in the district championship, where he doubled up running the 1600 and 3200 meter, taking first in both events.
“I went into districts knowing that I didn’t need to break my personal record,” Seymour said. “Since it was just for placement, I ran relaxed and calm and only went as fast as I needed to so I didn’t stress my body.”
After Seymour’s freshman season of track got canceled due to COVID-19, he has had surprising success his sophomore year. He broke the school record for the 3200 meter with a time of 9:34.29 at the Set Goals Not Limits elite invitational showcase on March 19.
“It’s a great start to my first season of track; I just hope I’m able to break it again,” Seymour said.
Seymour also set multiple records in the school’s top ten time lists this season: in the 4×800 relay, the 800 meter event,the distance medley relay, and almost breaking the school record for the 1600 at the Trinity Prep invite on April 1, only a second behind the current record of 4:21.20.
But, if it was up to his parents, he would be on the soccer field and off the track. Starting in sixth grade, Seymour’s parents pulled him out of middle school and started homeschooling him to allow for private training in soccer five times a week.
“I liked being homeschooled; it allowed me to get in more training for soccer and track,” Seymour said. “And gave me an opportunity that most kids my age didn’t get to improve their skills.”
In 2018 Seymour trained and scrimaged with the U.S. Youth National U14 team, going to four training camps with the team over the course of four months. The following year Seymour moved to New York for his parents work, where he practiced in a semi-pro league, the National Premier Soccer League, with players up to seven years older than him.
Last summer Seymour was selected to travel to Germany with a team created by the organization, the Futbol Project, to play and practice with youth teams in Germany’s professional soccer league Bundesliga.
“It was a great experience to go over and play against teams from a different country,” Seymour said, “and I even got offers to go on trial with a couple academies in Germany.”
However, it was his Seymour’s sister, Bryce Seymour, who motivated him to want to run track in college.
“Watching her run all for years of high school and seeing how well she did motivated me to switch to track,” Seymour said.
Seymour’s sister also ran track at Hagerty, and just like Braydeon, she holds the 3200 meter record for the school. It was her career in high school and her commitment to the University of Florida that made him question which sport he truly wanted to play.
“I was able to show him where track could take him through college and showed him what it meant to excel in track,” Bryce Seymour said.
At a young age Braeydon started training for cross country and track, as he tried to keep up with his sister. Becoming her shadow, Braeydon used to follow her on runs on his bike or would run next to her on the treadmill.
“Braeydon become attuned to running as he came to all my meets and grew up around the track community getting to know the coaches at a very young age,” Byrce said. “He was like the little mascot for Hagerty’s track team.”
Braeydon continued to show an affinity for running at a young age; when in seventh grade he came in sixth at the New Balance Indoor Nationals mile, breaking five minutes for the first time.
Seymour is competing in the FHSAA state championship on Saturday, May 9 in Jacksonville. Doubling up again, he will compete in both the 1600 and 3200 meter events.
Going into states I want to PR in the mile and definitely place in the top six to get a medal, and in the 3200 I plan on just going out and trying to PR,” Seymour said.
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