Brothers find no need for rivalry in 3200 relay

Camerons pair up for success on St. Francis team

Dan Lenhart, left, takes the baton from Will Cameron during the final leg of the 3200 relay during the St. Francis de Sales Knights Relay. The Knights' team, which also includes Will Cameron's brother, John, and Larry Jajou, won the race.

The Blade/Jeremy Wadsworth
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Dan Lenhart, left, takes the baton from Will Cameron during the final leg of the 3200 relay during the St. Francis de Sales Knights Relay. The Knights' team, which also includes Will Cameron's brother, John, and Larry Jajou, won the race.

Sibling rivalry is not an issue for John and Will Cameron.

These brothers, who are two of St. Francis de Sales' top distance runners, are best friends.

It's been more about pushing one another along during the rigors of running than trying to outrun each other during their track careers at St. Francis.

"We're pretty competitive, but we don't mind getting beat by each other," said John, a senior. "Since I'm more into the longer distances and [Will is] more of a sprinter, we've helped each other in our weak spots in running."

Will believes they actually thrive off of one another's efforts and drive to continue improving as runners.

"We've grown a lot closer and we push each other to be as good as we can be," said Will, a junior at St. Francis.

The Camerons have always been involved in some aspect of athletics since they were grade-schoolers. It's during the past two years when they became more serious about running cross country and track. It's during this period the two have spent plenty of time training year-round to improve as middle-distance to long distance runners.

They've shown they're capable of holding their own in the 400-meter race on up to the 3200-meter competition.

However, John, who is a four-year letterwinner in cross country and track, focuses on the 800 and 1600. His personal best time for the 800 is 1 minute, 59 seconds, while his best effort in the 1600 is 4:33.

Will, a three-year letterwinner in cross country and track, has been more involved with running the 400 and 800 races this spring. His best effort for the 400 is 51.2 and his top time in the 800 is 2:01.

John Cameron, left, says he and his brother, Will, have grown closer through their success on the track. John is a senior at St. Francis and Will is a junior.

Yet, the Sylvania residents have gone through this season finding much of their success running within a team structure rather than as individuals. The Camerons celebrated winning a City League meet event for the first time during their careers when they ran along with teammates Larry Jajou and Dan Lenhart to win the 3200 relay with a time of 8:02.7. Will and John ran the second and third leg, respectively, to help the Knights record their only first-place effort during the final City League meet involving St. Francis, as well as parochial school rivals St. John's Jesuit and Central Catholic, who are all joining a new league in the fall.

"It was a great feeling to win that relay because all four of the people on that team really worked for it," John said, whose 800 split (1:59) became a personal-best effort.

The relay team's showing also represented their best outing since the Knights quartet won the 3200 relay event at the Knights Relays with a time of 8:04.34.

"It was definitely nice, but we're not satisfied," said Will. "We definitely want to go further."

Neither John nor Will had advanced beyond district meet competition in track and field before this spring. Their preseason goal was to complete the season at the state track meet. For the Cameron siblings, it's been a spring focused on trying to extend their final season as high school teammates for the long haul.

John, who will graduate with a 4.0 grade point average, is heading to John Carroll University in the fall where he will run cross country and track while studying biology. Will has another year of high school to complete and he hasn't decided if he'll continue running after high school.

"It's been a great experience running together," John said. "We want to make our high school experience last as long as we can."

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com or 419-724-6302.