The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Spilker siblings set the tone for Thomas Sumter on and off the course

Running can be a very solitary sport. While the team setting is prevalent in both cross country and track, it's often one runner against the field. It helps to have somebody to help you along the way.

That's one of the biggest benefits the Spilker siblings, Trent and Skylar, have as they shine in both cross country and track.

The two siblings push each other to become the best versions of themselves both on and off the course. Both Spilkers are at the top of their class. Trent is a senior with his eyes on the medical profession, while Skylar is a freshman learning from the example her older brother has set. Together, they help set the tone for Thomas Sumter in both running sports, and Rob Coursey, who coaches both sports, couldn't be more thrilled to have a duo like the Spilkers to set an example for the rest of the runners at TSA.

"It's really their dedication to it. It's not even a track and cross country thing," Rob said. "When you look at what they bring to the table, the academics, the athletics. You don't have to really worry about the Spilkers doing anything wrong. They do what they say, and they say what they do. I don't really have to dangle a carrot in front of them to get them to do what we want them to do.

"They bring out the best in everybody. They're positive, they bleed green and gold. They're awesome people. That is Thomas Sumter; they're the mold."

GETTING STARTED

The Spilkers didn't grow up as competitive runners, though it is in their blood. Their grandfather ran collegiately at Eastern Kentucky, while their mom, Jennifer, coached equestrian and laid a foundation for the work required to be a successful athlete.

While Skylar didn't give cross country a shot until the fifth grade, she showed some incredible potential as a runner from an early age.

"Back when she was about three, we were on vacation at Holden Beach in North Carolina, and she was just running around on the beach," Jennifer recalled. "This gentleman came up to us, introduced himself and said he was a high school track coach, and he noticed Skylar running around. He said, 'When she gets older, you have to get her into running; she has a great natural form.' It was just kinda funny how that came to fruition."

With that natural form in tow, Skylar was the first sibling to try her hand at cross country. Trent was playing football, but his younger sister convinced him to try something new in the fall.

"She told me it was fun, and she thought I'd be better at cross country than a lineman with my build," Trent said with a chuckle. "So, I joined cross country and never looked back."

The sport instantly grabbed both siblings.

"For me, I think it's the fact that you don't necessarily have to have talent to run," Trent said of why he latched onto cross country. "This is one of the sports where if you go out and run every single day, you are going to get better, and that's bottom line."

Throughout their journey, Trent and Skylar had each other to help make that extra push toward success. It's not necessarily a rivalry but two siblings who want to see each other become the best version of themselves.

"We've had siblings before, and sometimes it's a sibling rivalry. But with the two of them, they work out together. Trent really wants the best for his sister, and he kinda pushes and sets that standard high that Skylar has to follow it," Rob said. "I think Skylar also holds Trent to accountability. They bounce ideas off each other, and it's just neat to see them work together for a common goal."

As the younger sibling, Skylar likes having an older brother to chase down whenever they run together.

"It definitely sets my goals higher," she said. "On long runs on the weekends, I always try to keep up with him. Tempo runs, I always just try to reach my goal by keeping at his pace."

Of course, it's a little easier on mom and dad to have both kids on the same team, too.

"It's very special. It's much more convenient for me as a parent, not having to worry about trying to make it to multiple sports events at the same time," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "But it's nice because they can share training ideas and just talk about the same things. The team there is just so close, being a small team, and they always have fun doing things together."

And the Spilkers take the sport seriously. As cross country and track runners, they don't take much time off during the year. Trent estimates that he takes about three days off between seasons, then it's right back to the grindstone.

"The biggest thing is just discipline," Trent said. "I put in about 400 miles this summer. It was just kind of every day, get up, get your miles in. It didn't matter if I was having a good day, bad day, just go out and run. Either way, it has to get done."

That discipline shows up in the classroom, too. The Spilkers take their education very seriously and refuse to let their grades slip so they can get an extra mile in on their latest run.

"There are times after meets where I'm driving home, doing homework, and even though I'm exhausted, I have to get my work done. Or the next morning after a race, I'll wake up extra early to get my homework done," Skylar said. "At school, I always focus, I try my hardest to get the highest grades possible, and I'm highest in my grade right now, and I plan to keep that. I just always have the mindset of do the best you can."

Trent plans to go to medical school as either an EMT or a military doctor and had the chance to attend a med school program at Johns Hopkins during the summer to get a taste for that work. He wants to commit as much as he can to both of his passions while at TSA.

"One of the biggest things that Coach Rob emphasizes is schoolwork before sports," Trent said. "I think I've done that pretty well. I'm taking four college classes currently per semester right now. Obviously, that's a huge workload on top of cross country. There are a lot of late nights, a lot of stress that comes with that, but I think it's worked pretty well.

"I think just having something like that that's outside of sports is just so important to have because, at the end of the day, you do need to focus on your career, as well."

MILESTONES IN THE SPRING

That hard work paid off last spring, as both Spilkers had milestone moments.

Trent's shining moment came in the 4x800, where he teamed up with Nate Livingston, William Wright and Jake Marshall set the school record and took home a first-place finish at the SCISA DII state meet.

The crew didn't necessarily go into the season with their eyes set on the top mark in TSA history, but they quickly learned it was in the cards.

"The first race, we were not even trying, really, and we almost got the school record," Trent said. "We started screaming about halfway through and said, 'Go, come on, you're about two seconds off.' The rest of the season was just a chase for that school record, that chase for that state medal, and we got the state medal at the end, so I couldn't be happier."

Skylar, meanwhile, learned how to unlock her potential during an early meet at Orangeburg Prep. She had already shaved 10 seconds off her 1,600m run time, but Rob knew she had more in her, even joking that he'll perform CPR on her if she gives it her all and wasn't able to finish the race.

"I was like, stop with this 6:30, you're a much better athlete than running a 6:30," Coursey said. "She ran 6:10 that day. It was a regular Wednesday meet at Orangeburg Prep. She crossed the finish line and laid down, and I always joke that the girl who wins the Olympics can have an interview. It's the second-place girl that's lying down needing assistance. Don't be that girl. Run your race, win your race. She ran 6:10 that day, and it was just that belief that she could do it. That really set her up for the rest of the season with her mindset."

Skylar was taken aback by her own finish.

"It was a lot. I was so proud of myself. I was gassed at the end. All my friends were cheering for me. I have such an amazing team," she said. "That just really opened up the fact that I could do that. It was just really eye-opening."

"I was surprised, too," Trent interjected. "I saw that time; I thought it was wrong."

After that strong finish, Skylar floated around the 6:10 mark for the rest of the year, eventually finishing fourth in the state meet. The real shock of the state meet was her run in the 3,200m run, where she finished second with a time of 13:15.89. Skylar kept rolling into the fall, too. She finished second in the Generals' first meet and just ran in the Springdale 5K in Camden during the weekend. She was the top female and finished 11th overall with a time of 22:15.1. The freshman keeps improving because of the confidence she built throughout the spring.

"She runs like she's a senior, not a freshman," Rob said. "She's running with that confidence, and that's huge."

ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Rob tries to give his athletes every resource possible to shave as much time as possible. Trent was able to take that analytical approach and run with it.

"We look at the analytics of running, and he's breaking down his own run before I even get an opportunity to talk to him," Rob said. "He already knows where we need to work, and he gets the younger kids to start paying attention to the details. He's very detail oriented; he knows every day what the task at hand is."

Trent loves to find little advantages wherever he can. It's like a puzzle, and the process just comes naturally to the senior.

"My teammates and I would kind of talk about the splits we had this run, so I started just looking into that a little bit harder and seeing just what little changes I can make compared to my teammates that could give me an edge," Trent said.

Skylar is mostly happy to let her brother focus on the minutiae.

"I usually just ask him for the stats," she quipped.

That mindset also helps Trent as a leader. He's the lone senior boy for the TSA cross country team, so he's often tasked with finding ways to encourage the very young team around him.

"I have already had a couple of parents come up to me who told me how much their boys just really look up to Trent, how before each race he gives them a pep talk and he motivates them and tells them they can go out and do a great job," Jennifer said. "And that's just really nice to hear that as a parent."

Despite her age, Skylar is also more than capable of stepping into a leadership role.

"They embody what you know you want to see in a kid that you coach. They make me want to coach better with their commitment," Rob said. "They give 110%, so you can't be the coach that gives 80%, you have to match them."

While Skylar is still young, she's followed in the footsteps of some incredible runners at Thomas Sumter. Bella Crowe and Aubrey Stoddard are both older runners who laid a foundation before Skylar was in the program. Reese Distelzweig won the SCISA 2A cross country title as an eighth-grader in 2020 just as Skylar was starting out.

"(Reese) was a great figure. I looked up to her a lot," Skylar said. "I saw that she won state in eighth grade, and I was like, 'I want to do that. That's exactly what I want to do.'"

Rob always likes to keep former runners involved in the program to continue to set that example. Skylar has been more than willing to pick up that baton.

"Skylar had that blueprint of how it's supposed to go," Coursey said. "She's had some great role models with her brother and other girls that have been through the program. We're not recreating the wheel every year. The expectation has been the same for 13 years, and they just flow with it. It's poetry in motion."

FINAL RIDE TOGETHER

Of course, this is Trent's last run before going off to college. He's trying to go out with a bang, while both Spilkers are just trying to savor their last ride together.

"With it being my last year, I definitely want to put everything on the table," he said. "Looking towards winter, I'm definitely going to jack up my miles pretty high and just go for it with everything I have and know that I can hopefully leave the team better than I found it. So when I come back in one or two or three years, I can see all those trophies up on the wall."

Skylar added, "I'm there to cheer him on every race and try to spend as much time as I can running with him and cheering him on. I know he has great goals, and I think he can achieve all of them."