2023 NewsTribune Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Bureau Valley’s Elijah House

MANLIUS – Elijah House made a plan and followed it.

All the way to Charleston for a last run at the IHSA Class 1A State Track and Field finals.

The Bureau Valley Storm senior standout got down to state in two individual races and two relays. Once there, he focused on one event, the 800 meters, and landed an eighth-place medal, his first from state.

He was sectional champion in the 400 meters and runner-up in the 800 and conference champion in both races.

For his accomplishments, House is the 2023 NewsTribune Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

“It was a bittersweet moment when he crossed the finish line in the 800. I was excited that he had finally reached his goal and was walking away with a medal, but at the same time I knew he was walking away and wouldn’t be returning,” BV coach Dan Devenney said. “We are extremely proud of him and everything he’s done and who he has become. We know he’ll go on to do great things in the future.”

House was 13th seeded going into state in both of his individual races. He ran the 400 in the prelims, but put all of his focus on the 800.

“It was a pretty tough double. I was exhausted and dragging through that 400,” he said. “The 400 was just icing on the cake. My 800 was my main focus personally.”

Happy to medal, but not satisfied with his placing, House will strive to only get better.

“I go away motivated going into the next cross country season. I would have liked to have been higher up on the podium,” he said. “Had people telling me I could run a 1:55 or maybe a 1:54 and I keep thinking about that. If I had run that, where I would have been? So, not completely satisfied, but motivated, I guess.”

That is typical Elijah House, Devenney said.

“There is no harder critic of his performances than the person looking back at him in the mirror,” DeVenney said. “He would be so hard on himself, it would take him a minute to reflect and see what it was that he actually did accomplish, even if it wasn’t the ‘perfect’ race.”

The Storm’s relays were a pleasant surprise. They came on strong, qualifying on time in both the events at sectional.

“To be honest, I looked at the relays at the beginning of season and I did not think they were going to make it,” House said. “Coach had faith in them and we started picking up speed and we all started getting a lot better.”

House, who went to state by himself as a junior, said it was a lot more enjoyable to “go down with guys that I knew and see them compete and watch how they were able to handle it.”

House has been the team MVP for the past three years, based on points. He’s never done a field event with every point he’s ever scored done on the track.

“He always would ask me to do a field event, and I think he was only half serious about it. The answer was a quick ‘NO’,” Devenney said.

Devenney said House’s racing style has changed dramatically from when he first started.

“He used to just get himself into a race and not really lead and then try to out-kick people. This year we decided to take a more aggressive approach and lead and take people’s legs from them early,” Devenney said. “It was a learning process and there were a few not so good moments early on, but he put it together and was able to run under two minutes in the 800 for the majority of his outdoor season.”

House will run both track and cross country for Heartland College in Normal next year. He said one of the biggest reasons he chose Heartland is because of coach Ty Wolf’s training and philosophy on running.

“It’s not just go out there and run. It’s, ‘I’m going to show you guys why I’m having you do these workouts and what it’s going to do for your body.’ And the more mental side of it he has going with it has me pretty excited for the cross country season,” House said.

“I’m really excited with the guys they already have that I’ve looked up to and raced against and the guys they have going into it. I’ve heard we might win cross country nationals and I would love to see that. Hoping to be putting in some good training in this offseason to help those guys get there.”

House will see how his body feels after cross country to determine what he will run in track, but knows what he wants to run.

“I would like to not lose the 800. I really enjoy the 800. Just kind of depends on what coach and I decide,” he said. “I want to run 1:50 and get to nationals. It’s hard to know what qualifies as good at the collegiate level. But I want to get noticed first year by my competition.”