Pepsi Spotlight: New Bern’s Gray Sweatman

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - After a childhood of chasing football and basketball, Gray Sweatman made one most important decisions of his life in his Junior year of high school by switching exclusively to long-distance running.

Going from a kid (like most) who didn’t enjoy going for runs, he picked up track in middle school, and realized years later that was his calling.

“Yeah, honestly no, I did not like running when I was younger, obviously you have to run in sports, but I wasn’t a big fan of it, I didn’t love it like I do now,” he recalled.

Specializing in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter races, Gray has separated himself mentally at New Bern,

“Gray can tolerate pain, so that is part of his success, that two-mile race hurts,” his coach Mark Robison said.

As a Senior, Sweatman now is also preparing for college, where he’s committed to run at Mars Hill University next year.