McNally had breakthrough season at Morris Hills

Ian McNally has been an active athlete since his toddler days. He played football, baseball and basketball, and was a highly skilled skier.

When McNally enrolled at Morris Hills High School a little more than three years ago, he set his eyes on one thing.

“I wanted to play football,” McNally said. “I was always a pretty good football player as a kid. I had a football coach who called me ‘Happy Feet,’ because my feet were always moving.”

McNally was a member of the freshman football team at Morris Hills, when he came to a sudden realization.

“I just didn’t love football as much as I used to,” McNally said. “I don’t know why. It just happened.”

Credit Ian’s father, John, for the next step in his athletic life. John McNally had been a Morris Hills pole vaulter and encouraged Ian to go out for the track team, offering “a nice pair of spikes.”

McNally won the Lakeland League county championship in the long jump and was second in the 400 meters in sixth-grade, but he gave it up to play football.

“I think I always had the ability to run,” said McNally, the 2015-16 All Daily Record Boys Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year. “It was always in the back of my mind that I should run. I had some decent natural speed and (Morris Hills head coach Sean) Robinson saw that and said that I should come out for cross country. It’s funny, because at first, I told him I would think about it. That’s how I became a middle-distance runner.”

McNally’s breakthrough came in the NJSIAA North 1 Group II 800, defeating former NJSIAA champion Colin Daly of River Dell.

He started off his season in fine fashion and ended it the same way.

McNally won the gold medal in the 600 at the O’Leary Lid Lifter (1:24.05) and then set a Morris County Championships meet record (1:20.73) in the same event. McNally also won the gold medal in the 800 at both North 1 Group III and the overall Group III meet (1:55.81).

In between, McNally ran the first leg on several of the Scarlet Raiders’ relay teams, including the 4x800 which the fastest time in the United States and went on to earn All-American status at the New Balance Indoor Nationals.

“I think he had a breakout year,” Robinson said. “He was good before, but this year, Ian took it to another level. He was much more mentally mature and was able to handle the pressure. He’d be the first one to tell you that (teammate) Jason (Schweizer) pushed him tremendously.

“One doesn’t do what he did without the other one. ... To run in the upper echelon is not easy. Everyone wants to beat you and it’s up to you how you handle it. Ian had the mental toughness to handle it. He was able to compete every day. He was very consistent in what he did.”

Before the season, Robinson floated the idea of McNally completing what he called “the Tansey Triple,” named after former Morris Hills great Liam Tansey, who won the 600, 1,000 and the 4x400 at the 2009 Morris County Championships.

Tansey, who went on to have a great track career at Columbia University, came back to meets this year just to encourage and inspire McNally.

“Any time Robinson would compare me to Liam Tansey, I said to myself, ‘He’s crazy,’” McNally said. “It was like, ‘What’s he talking about?’ But I took it one step at a time and went after it, even if I still thought Robinson was crazy to think that. I definitely didn’t think it was possible for me to get to that level.”

McNally won the 600 and finished second in the 1,000 and was part of Morris Hills’ second-place 4x400 at the county meet. He broke Tansey’s school record in the 600.

“It’s amazing to see how far I’ve come,” said McNally, who has an average of 103 on the 100-point scale and a 2280 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and could be Morris Hills’ valedictorian.

“It shows how great Robinson is at doing his job and how well he trains us. It’s awesome that this has happened to me.”

Said Robinson, “With the times he’s put up, he will always be remembered.”