Lance Roller is one of the best scholastic runners not on a HS team
By Christopher Hunt
He said he was used to it by now. Lance Roller heads out to practice at the track at Cortlandtville Middle School. He warms-up alone. He stretches alone.
There is a voice telling him when to pick up the pace, when to maintain. The voice tells him to keep his running form intact. It tells him to fight through this last repetition. It’s his own voice.
Roller gauges his own fatigue and motivates himself when his legs tried to tell they’ve had enough. Yet Roller is one of the best 800-meter runners in the country never seen at a high school meet. Roller is a senior at Walter Panas High School in Cortlandt Manor but doesn’t run for his school’s team. He signed to compete at the University of Virginia earlier this month.
There aren’t examples of runners like Roller every season. Kenneth Baxter was an all-American sprinter in 2000 and didn’t compete for the Academy of Science where he went to high school. He competed for the New York Elite track club and went on to become an NCAA national qualifier at Purdue. Roller is coached by Rachelle Clinton, the coach of Stars Track Club, which he has run with since the eighth grade when Clinton converted him from a hurdler to a middle-distance runner.
“In one sense he was forced to have to mature and step up,” Clinton said. “He made that decision (to not compete for his school) so he had say I have to be mature enough to step up. But at the same time he didn’t know any different.”
Roller does most of his training on his own, corresponding with Clinton, who lives in Manhattan, through emails and 
phone calls. They meet in the Armory a couple times a week during the winter season and at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, during the cross country and outdoor season when time permits. But at 18 years old, Roller has developed the self-sufficiency to train consistently on his own and flourish.
He finished fourth in the 800 meters at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in March, finishing in 1:53.05, a personal best. He also ran 1:20.77 to win the 600 at the USATF Metropolitan AC Invitational in December, the second-fastest time in the country at the time and the sixth-fastest by season’s end.
Both Roller and Clinton said that competing outside of the normal high school schedule has benefited Roller. He missed out on the exposure that running high school track would have allowed him but Clinton was able to create a training program specifically suited for Roller. He also has more flexibility with his race schedule.
Roller hasn’t raced yet this spring season and said he was unsure of when his first race would be. He has to option of waiting until he and Clinton feel is body is recovered from the indoor season. He said not running at county, section or state championships hasn’t hindered him either.
“I still get to go to most of the big meets, Simplot, New Balance (Collegiate) Games, NSIC,” he said. “I’ll be at Nike (Outdoor Nationals). Hopefully.”
It’s also given Roller anonymity in the high school arena though he is a recognizable face and name in the club track scene. Both have also worked in his favor.
“I like people not knowing who I am,” he said. “I like being the darkhorse. I can get to the national meet and just do my thing.”
It also exposes Roller to a different style of racing while competing in open races with athletes of all age groups.
“With club you are allowed to run open meets with bigger, older guys,” he said. “The races I run can get physical with pushing and elbows. You get used to that because in the 800 and 1,500 sometimes you have to push around a bit.”
As a freshman, Roller attempted to join the high school team. But he wanted to retain Clinton as his coach as well and train with the Panas track coach. He realized early on that he would have to choose.
“I was comfortable with (Clinton),” Roller said. “My first summer with her, I dropped like 10 seconds in my 800. I felt like I could keep improving with her.”
He had to explain the story when his recruiting process started, that he had stuck with Clinton because he thought it was best for his athletic career. He chose Virginia over Miami, North Carolina and Indiana and Roller heads to college as an already self-sufficient athlete.
“I like to look at the positive,” Clinton said. “The positive is that (competing individually) definitely made him more mature. It made him more disciplined. When he had to run meets he had to take advantage of those meets because he didn’t have that many. He had to go out and push himself in workouts and to go out and do runs. Now when he goest to college and the coach says you havew to run on your own on Saturday , he’s not going to be one of the kids that sleeps until 11 o’clock and not do the run.
“When it comes to college they are getting a leader as opposed to a follower.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.