Record-setting homeschooler winning track meets, eyeing 2028 Olympics
A 14-year-old homeschooler from Ohio is winning track meets, setting records and making plans four years into the future.
“I want to run in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles,” said Sean Reith,…
A 14-year-old homeschooler from Ohio is winning track meets, setting records and making plans four years into the future.
“I want to run in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles,” said Sean Reith, who won the mile run for middle school boys March 7 at the New Balance Nationals indoor track meet in Boston.
Reith set a meet record by finishing with a time of 4:24. He also won first place in the middle school boys 800-meter run by finishing in 2 minutes, setting another record.
However, Reith might never have taken up running competitively if it hadn’t been for his homeschool experience nurtured by his mother, Kristan Reith.
“Sean used to just hop out of the car and run laps around the house,” she said. “At one time all five of our kids were part of the youth running club.”
By his 6th-grade year, Sean was earning runner-up honors at the state cross country meet. He joined his local public middle school’s track team in 7th grade but left at the end of the season.
“I wasn’t getting any faster,” he said.
So his father, Mike Reith, resumed coaching Sean full time.
Mike has tailored Sean’s training to focus on maintaining optimal heart rates throughout practice. Sean’s 12-year-old brother, Reagan, also joins the workouts.
“One thing we’re proud about – we never run at a race or goal pace,” Mike said. “They run hard days for sure, but we do more on volume.”
All the training takes place on the family’s farm, Providence Pastures.
“I give them the option to take time off,” Mike said, “but Sean doesn’t like to. He does a good job telling us how he feels, or what a particular workout feels like.”
Sean’s daily workouts allow him to achieve weekly distance totals of 75-90 miles. Outside his training, he still has time to do chores around the farm, including care for chickens, goats and pigs.
“It’s definitely an advantage,” Kristan said of Sean’s homeschool schedule. “That’s one of the reasons Sean’s declined my offer to go back to a public-school track team.”
Sean is competing at meets throughout the Midwest this spring. He hopes to challenge the U.S. record for 8th graders by running the mile in 4:19 – five seconds faster than his race in March, Mike said.
Sean also credited New Balance for giving him a pair of track spikes that weren’t available on the open market at the time he qualified for the meet.
“The shoes are definitely faster,” he said. “They give you more spring.”
The Reiths took a week off to attend the meet as a family.
“It was nice,” Sean said. “There were a lot of people – probably one of the biggest meets I’ve been to.”