To Bishop Stang senior Destin Barboza, there is more to being an athlete than qualifying for states or improving your times. To him, it’s all about sportsmanship and picking up your fellow athletes.

Barboza, 17, is the definition of a well-rounded track star. A mid-distance sprinter and captain on the track team, Barboza runs the gamut of winter track events from 55 meter sprint to the 300 meter run to the high, long and triple jumps. Though he played other sports like basketball, he got serious about track his sophomore year. He tried out for the team and, though he didn’t expect to enjoy it so much, he came to love the sport. He narrowed his athletic pursuits down to focus strictly on track and field.

“It’s just a very mental sport,” Barboza said. “You sit there and… you tell yourself ‘I don’t want to run anymore, I just want to quit’ but you need to get past that and push your body to limits you didn’t even think you could reach.”

Focusing on others helps him take his mind off of the pressure, too. If he sees someone struggling on the field, whether he or she is on his team or part of the competition, Barboza is never afraid to lend a helping hand, particularly on events with a steep learning curve like the high jump.

“They do something wrong? I try and give them tips so they can try and beat me, give them a little competition,” he said. “Of course I want to win but, at the same time, I want to see them get better.”

This season has presented Barboza with a variety of new events. Last season, the longest distance event he competed in was the 200 meter. This season, Barboza has run in the 300 meter and the 4x400 meter relay. The 300 is a notoriously excruciating event due to the difficulty in pacing it. However, he was enthusiastic about the brand new challenge and the new dimension of competition.

“The 4x4 felt really good,” Barboza said. “I was, of course, very anxious and very nervous because I never did it before but I ran in a really good time, and we were a .1 second away from qualifying for States.”

“We just threw him in the 4x400 relay because we’ve always known he could do it and he did an amazing job,” said head track coach Jen Mulcare-Sullivan.

Barboza and his teammates Nicholas Pacheco, Andre Crumbaker and Noah O’Toole ran a 3:54.6 in the 4x400 at their meet against Somerset on Dec. 17. Barboza ran a 56.5 in his leg of the race.

Barboza has already qualified for states in the high jump with a qualifying jump of 5’8.”

But it's the friendships he’s made that have left lasting impact on Barboza.

“[My friends,] they push me through practice,” Barboza said. “Whenever it’s all down at practice, we use each other to get through it.”

“He’s a captain this year, a great role model. He leads by example and one of the first one’s to get here, last to leave,” said Sullivan. “He’s a great kid.”