What has been a busy three-sport high-school senior year recently included a verbal commitment from Emmett Engelhardt to participate in Division I college athletics.
The runner and basketball player for the Washington-Liberty Generals will attend American University to be a member of the men’s cross-country and indoor and outdoor track-and-field teams, continuing his year-round sports involvement.
“American was the right fit for me with everything they had to offer in cross-country and track-and-field,” Engelhardt told ARLnow. “I liked the culture there with the teams, and how the coaches wanted to work with me and teach me a lot of things.”
Engelhardt also had interest in attending colleges like Bucknell, Colgate and George Mason, but “it all worked out best at American,” Engelhardt said.
This past fall during the cross-country season, Engelhardt was the top boys runner from an Arlington school. He won multiple races, including the season-opening Monroe Parker Invitational and the Arlington County and Liberty District championships, then placed high in region and state meets.
Prior to those postseason meets, Engelhardt won the Octoberfest Invitational on the Great Meadow course in The Plains.
Overall, he enjoyed one of the best high-school cross-country seasons by a Arlington runner in a number of years.
Engelhardt played for W-L’s boys varsity basketball team as a shooting guard during the winter while also participating in a number of relay races for the boys indoor track-and-field team. He is running full-time for the outdoor track-and-field this spring.
“I’m glad I played basketball during the winter, because I really liked my teammates and coach [Bobby] Dobson,” Engelhardt said.
He played basketball for four seasons for Washington-Liberty.
The outdoor season begins for Engelhardt this coming week in the Arlington County meet at Washington-Liberty. He is expected to be a top runner in various distance races.
