Weller has goal of building Cheboygan track and field into perennial state contender

CHEBOYGAN – It’s hard to keep up with Jim Weller.

One moment, he’s working with one of his athletes on a starting block, and the next thing you know he’s on the other end of the track rooting on another sprinter.

That’s passion for the sport, something the new Cheboygan track and field coach has a lot of as he’s looking to make the program successful in the coming years.

“This year, I kind of came in with no expectations whatsoever because I had no idea what I was coming into, but long term, which is year two and beyond, there’s no reason why we can’t be a perennial state contender for many events, not all,” Weller said. “We’re not there yet, we’re still lacking in long distance, but that’s building and we’re a young team. I think we’re only graduating eight seniors this year.”

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An Indian River native, track is in the blood of Weller, who moved to the Detroit area back in 2002. While downstate, Weller coached at various levels of track starting in 2006 and became the athletic director at Hamtramck High School. Living down there until 2020, he eventually made his way back up north and is now with Cheboygan.

“It’s a different lifestyle, it’s a little more laid back, but I enjoy it nonetheless,” Weller said of being up north.

Weller considers himself a laid-back person, but at the same time, he means business when it comes to transforming a program into an elite one. While he knows it will obviously take time, he’s confident the young personnel he has will set Cheboygan up well for the future.

“It’s great because the building blocks we have are all juniors this year,” Weller said. “They’ve been the epitome of strength and commitment, and then the sophomores underneath them are kind of taking off that vibe, and then the freshmen, a lot of them are all in, and it’s nice to see the commitment from the kids.”

What Weller is encouraged by is the dedication of many of his athletes, including some who will stick around for an hour or more after practice ends. Those are the kids he wants in his program, and he’s hoping to add more.

“It makes it fun because it shows that the kids enjoy what they’re doing and we are teaching them right,” Weller said. “We’ve got a lot of kids that are looking at coming out next year. We’ve had some dual-sport athletes that wanted to come out this year, they came out a couple times, but they’re obviously committed to their other sport right now. Next year, they said they’re coming out and that they’re going to have fun.”

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With several athletes making strides this spring, it’ll only benefit the program going forward. But at the same time, Weller said there’s plenty of work to be done to make Cheboygan track a top sport.

“We’re looking forward to the years to come,” Weller said. “We’re looking at starting an indoor track program this winter. When I came here in January or February, I kind of took over what was already here and basically had to build from scratch. Not that I didn’t feel comfortable with what I inherited, but I needed to make sure that they knew that we could build up going forward.”

Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan track coach Jim Weller wants to make program elite