Boys Track and Field: Firelands' Colton Clough, Amherst's Ben Thompson go from competitors to fast friends

Sprinters line up a few feet away from one another, some just inches. The tension and stress are elevated in the moments leading up to the starting gun. The pressure at last year's LCAAA Track Invitational at Amherst was no different, but it didn't stop Ben Thompson of Amherst and Colton Clough of Firelands from striking up a friendship. They squared off in the 400 meters. The result? Thompson took second (49.45) and Clough third (49.50) behind Elyria Catholic's Connor Petrus (49.18). There's more to the story. Coaches, teammates and friends of Clough know his approach to track is angled toward goodwill. That initially caught Thompson off-guard. "At first I broke the ice by offering to pray with him before the race because it is something I like to do," said Clough, a senior. "Then we talked after the race." "He just randomly came up to me," said Thompson, also a senior. "He's such an energetic guy, bubbly personality. He just came up to me and said, 'Hey, man.' I never met this guy, I've never seen this guy before. I said, 'what's your name.' He knew mine because he saw my time on MileSplit." Clough's introduction laid the groundwork for a strong friendship. "Ben is a very close friend of mine," Clough said. "He is a great competitor. I love competing with him. When we compete we always push each other to the limit." They took full advantage of the rare opportunity to connect. They compete in different conferences and at different district meets. The schedules of their teams only intersect at the annual county meet. "When we first met I wanted to beat him because I knew he was a lot faster than me," Clough said. "But then I talked to him and thought he was a very cool guy. Our friendship started from there." The county meet was the first time they faced each other in an open race. It didn't happen at the county meets in 2024 and 2023 when they were sophomores and freshmen. "He's just a competitor," Thompson said. "He wants to know his competition. He wants to be friends with his competition. He has that drive. He has that motivation. "I've always been toe-to-toe with him. He might be very good this year. He's been dropping some good times for indoor track." Thompson and Clough are valuable assets to their programs, and each is coming off an outstanding indoor season. Thompson was part of the Amherst team that qualified its 4x200 and 4x400 relays to the New Balance National Indoor Championships in Boston on March 12-15. Clough qualified to indoor nationals for the 400. The 4x200 Amherst team of Ethan Wilhelms, Ben Dotson, Julius Donald and Thompson qualified to indoor nationals with a time of 1:29.36. The 4x400 team of Wilhelms, Dotson, Donald and Thompson qualified with a school-record 3:23.72. The national meet appearance comes on the heels of an outstanding performance at the OATCCC Indoor Division 2 state championships, where the Comets finished third. "The fact that we did so well for indoor season I have no doubt that we're going to solidify our place in the record books this outdoor season," Thompson said. "That's what we're looking to do. We're looking to set some records." Clough finished third in the 400 with a personal-record 48.96 at the Division 3 indoor state meet March 7 at SPIRE. He also placed 12th in the 200 (22.74). "My thoughts going into the season, as a team I want to have a good plan," he said. "I want all of us to stay healthy and constantly improve, like we've been doing. We just need to make sure we do the right things to keep doing well and keep that success going." Clough and Thompson got outdoor state meet experience last year at Ohio State. Clough was a member of the Falcons' All-Ohio 4x400 that included Andrew Pawlak, Dane Vanderpool and Ayden Fortner and placed fifth in Division II with a school-record 3:20.56. It was the Firelands boys' first All-Ohio relay since 2003 when the 4x400 of Isaac Drost, John Lamont, Ryan Toledo and JD Sheppard also placed fifth (3:23.93). "It's very easy to get cocky," Clough said. "You don't know. Anyone can go out there and beat you. Me, personally, I won conference last year, but anyone can still come beat me. Just like I can beat anyone." The Firelands boys won eight big meets in nine tries last season, including the Lorain County League and Orrville district meets. They missed a sweep by only six points, losing to Avon 105-99 at the LCAAA meet. "What I learned from last season was keeping God first and maintaining my humility because we had a very good year," said Clough. "I was very happy with it. I accomplished a lot of the goals that I wanted to accomplish. To advance to the state meet and to compete against some of the big-time programs like Glenville taught me to be humble. There are more people out there to chase. You have to be relentless. We have to keep attacking it." Firelands won its second straight LCL title and its second district title in five years. The Falcons advanced all four of their relays to regionals, and the 4x400 team of Pawlak, Fortner, Vanderpool and Clough advanced to state (third, 3:23.29). Thompson advanced to the state meet in two events. He teamed with Carter Boone, Gaige Patton and Luke Schreiber for the 4x200, which finished 12th (1:28.25), and placed 12th in the 400 (49.31). "Indoor season generally sets us up for the outdoor season," said Thompson. Thompson, like Clough, indicated the first part of the season through the end of April is about the team finding its identity. "The first month of the season is really about dipping into those new areas in outdoor that you normally wouldn't go into," said Thompson. "For example, the Comet Relays. There are a lot of different events like the sprint medley and the distance medley, both of which have the 400 on it. I think I'm going to try and be on both of those 400 (legs). We're going to try and get another record in both of those events. "It's about trying new things and just seeing where you fall into place because it could look differently for you than the indoor season." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.