On April 21, senior captain Cole Varner announced that he was committing to Bryant University via Instagram
Bryant is a NCAA Division II program in Rhode Island. It competes in the America East Conference alongside schools such as the University of Maine and the College of New Jersey.
Varner chose Bryant because they garner a nice balance of team culture and academics. “I really liked the coaches and their relationship and how they work as a team. But also, their business school is also very highly acclaimed,” said Varner.
Even though Varner will be competing at the Division I level, his path to reach this was not as straight as it may have been for others. He was practically on JV for his first three years of high school due to the Blue Devils’ strength in the distance events. So, it was initially hard for him to get any attention from college coaches.
However, Varner made a big splash the moment he joined the varsity lineup. During the fall, he was consistently placing in the top 5 of every cross country meet and even placed 30th at the Meet of Champions with a time of 16 minutes and 31 seconds.
Head coach Christopher Tafelski is extremely proud of the way Cole has developed and always kept his eyes on the prize. “[Varner’s] story is one I love to tell the underclassmen. It reminds them that in order to be one of the top guys in this sport you don’t need to be a superstar right out of the gates, all you have to do is show up everyday and put as much love and effort into the sport as [Varner] has,” said Tafelski.
But, no one was particularly surprised with Varner’s seemingly breakout season. His teammate Ryan Daly believes he has one of the best work ethics. “[Varner] always works really hard at practice doing the little things that add up over the season. His progression is simply because of that in my opinion. He works hard and takes care of himself which is the best way to get progressively better day in and day out,” said Daly.
Varner has a lot that he wants to accomplish in his first season at Bryant, such as “scoring in the America East Conference Meet, and being one of their top runners as a freshman.” But, before he can do that he has to finish up his time at WHS.
In his last two months as a Blue Devil he hopes to gain All-American status at nationals in a relay and “break the barriers of 4:20 in the 1600 meters and 9:25 in the 3200.”
