Faber, Sterling Medal At State Meet

Heather Sterling and Devin Faber wrapped up their sophomore years at Canton High School by capturing medals at the state track meet.

Sterling ran the 3200-Meters in a personal best time of 11:11 to win the silver medal, while Faber won the bronze in the pole vault. Both have two more seasons to compete for the chance to return to Austin and win the gold medal.

For both Sterling and Faber, it was a family member that got them started in their respective sports.

"I started cross country because my older sister was in it," said Sterling, who began running in the seventh grade. She stayed with it because she was good at it. As a freshman, Sterling missed a trip to state in cross country, placing 11th at regional, one spot off of qualifying.

In the following track season, she again qualified for the regional meet, placing fifth in the 3200-Meters.

"After that, the main goal was to go to state," Sterling said. "My coaches and I both thought I could."

After a week’s break last summer, Sterling and her cross country teammates went back to work. The team captured a district title, and Sterling met the first goal, advancing to the state cross country meet. She placed 19th as a sophomore.

Sterling placed second at the regional meet in the 3200-Meters, and set a goal of improving her time of 11:18 to 11:15 at state. She trimmed a full seven seconds off her time, running 11:11, four seconds behind Argyle’s Colbea Harris. Harris will also be back next season, but Sterling’s biggest challenge is personal.

"I want to break 11 minutes. That would give me a chance to win it next year," she said.

"The track season was extra long this year, and Cody Brown kept running with me after his season was over to help me train, so it’s great to have good teammates. And I don’t think I could have done this without Coach Fike and Coach Morgan."

Before this story made it to press, Sterling was already back at work. The cross country team met at 7 a.m. on Wednesday to run 6-12 miles, but that’s what’s required to meet Sterling’s next goal.

"I want to cross country team to go to state," she explained. "That’s the first goal."

Faber got a later start in his event of choice. When he was in the eighth grade, he gave the pole vault a try at his father’s suggestion. In that first season he placed second in district, and followed that up with district titles as a freshman and sophomore.

"I thought I could do it," Faber said after giving the event a try. "I worked with a trainer (Van’s Bobby Cotton) to learn the fundamentals, and there’s a lot of fundamentals to learn with pole vaulting. And I just grew to love the sport."

As a freshman, Faber placed sixth in the region, and this year qualified for state with a vault of 15’9". The height, which tied him with Argyle’s Samuel Retzloff, was a state best going into the state meet, but Faber knew it wouldn’t be enough at the state meet.

"I thought I’d have to go 16’ to win," he, and that was his goal going in, but he went out at 15’9", and placed third. Retzloff and Lorena’s Abrahm Leija both cleared 16’.

"My vault would have won state in 1A and 2A, and would have placed second in 4A or 5A, but 3A was the toughest classification."

It will be tough again next year, as Retzloff and Leija will both be back for their senior seasons. Faber doesn’t intend to let that keep him from the gold medal.

"I’ve cleared 16’ before. I went to a bigger pole for my first two tries, and didn’t have good jumps," explained of his final vaults. "I went back to the lighter pole for my last try and got over, I just grazed it with my elbow."

Faber also cited coach Gary Fain for working with him in the pole vault, but will turn his attention to football this fall. He was a member of the JV football team last season.