The end of adolescence always means transition, and Matthew Boling’s path has been more exhilarating and complicated than most. At the start of spring, Boling was one of the top high school track athletes in the country, headed to the University of Georgia on a full scholarship.
He was a quiet, confident kid on pace to graduate with a 4.2 grade-point average, an 18-year-old who played home run derby with pals. Before a spring-break meet in March, Boling asked his coach at Strake Jesuit whether he could try the 100 meters, his sport’s crown jewel and a race he hadn’t run since seventh grade. Over the next two months, about 10 blurry seconds at a time, Boling became, in the rueful phrasing of his coach, “a story.”
