Alex Reed is having a blast as a freshman sprinter for Wichita State University. He’s already setting personal bests and before it’s all said and done, say three years down the road, don’t be surprised if he’s battling for championships.
Reed, a three-time Class 5A state champion in the 400-meter dash at Great Bend High School, is also fully healthy for the first time in a while.
It’s well documented that Reed suffered a devastating knee injury during district football action at Salina Central in 2010. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and also suffered a partially torn meniscus.
Yet after having surgery on Nov. 5, 2010, he still signed on March 30 to run for the Shockers. And then he capped his prep career by winning his third straight 400 crown on May 28 at WSU’s Cessna Stadium, just under six months after suffering the major injury.
“That’s the thing I thought about before I signed here,” said Reed in a telephone interview from Wichita. “I’ve always run my best here.”
Reed is running his first outdoor meet at home this weekend when he takes part in the K.T. Woodman Classic meet. His former teammates at GBHS are also competing in the high school division, which took place Thursday and today.
Enduring his painful senior year at GBHS seemed to only make him bigger, stronger and faster. He is competing for the Shockers in the 200 and 400 dashes, along with the long jump.
“It gave me a lot of motivation, just going through that injury,” Reed said. “It didn’t even take that long, really. It was a pretty short time of recovery, and then I was back into it.
“If I can do that then I feel I can do anything, I think.”
After having a solid indoor campaign, Reed appears to be hitting the tip of the iceberg during the current outdoor season.
“This spring we’ve only had two meets thus far,” said Reed, alluding to the University of Arkansas invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., two weeks ago and the New Mexico invite last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. “In the indoor season, my best time (in the 200) was 22.1.”
Reed ran a sub-22 for the first time last weekend, clocking  21.89 last weekend in Albuquerque for 12th place.
“My sophomore year (at GBHS) I ran in the mid-to-low 22s and had the low 22s my senior year,” Reed recalled. “Finally, I broke into the 21s at Wichita State.”
One week earlier, he eclipsed his personal best in the 400, topping his previous mark of 48.37, set during his sophomore year.
“At Arkansas in our first meet two weeks ago on March 31st, in the first 400 outdoor race of the season, I ran 48.1, which is my new personal record,” Reed said.
He finshed ninth in that race, thus only figures to fare only better in the not-too-distant future.
A 6-foot-2, 180-pounder, Reed says he has maintained about the same weight as he carried in high school at 175, although he’s gained nearly five pounds of muscle since arriving on WSU campus.
“I’ve added a little more muscle,” Reed said. “Running at Wichita State is so much different than high school. In high school, you had the fast runners and the slow runners and here, everyone is fast. There aren’t any slow people.
“Most all of our lifts in the weight room are focused on getting more explosive and getting power and into the driving phase when you run,” he said. “More weight but less reps. Once we get closer to the end of the season, there will be less weight and more reps.”
Reed had a slight limp when he ran last spring, perhaps some range-of-motion issues from his knee injury that have since been ironed out.
“My knee, it’s pretty much back to normal and 100 percent. (His limp), it’s completely gone.
Fellow sprinter Dylan Hartnett, a Dodge City product, has been the consummate training partner for Reed.
“He’s the best training partner that I have ever had,” Reed said. “He’s mainly the reason why I’ve been doing so well because he pushes me every day in practice.
“My coaches told me the other day that in the 200, I should be in the low 21s by my sophomore year, maybe 20,” Reed said. “I really think (under 20 seconds) it’s possible. I have plenty of time to work and get there. That’s pretty much my goal, and I’m going to go for it.”
Reed, the GBHS record holder in the long jump at 23-10, is also back in the long-jump runway after a long layoff.
 “My left knee is the one I hurt and that’s the knee I jump on,” he said. “At WSU, I have had to switch legs (and jump off the right foot), which has been pretty tough because I’m just not used to it and still getting back in the swing because I hadn’t long-jumped in a year.”
At the Arkansas meet, Reed hit 22-1.
“That’s pretty close to what I did in high school,” Reed said. “It’s pretty tough, but it’s working right now. I’m also on the 4x400, and we also have an all-freshmen 4x100.
“It’s awesome here. You get to travel all around the country and I’m facing some great competition. I’m having a lot of fun.”