Rye Varsity Indoor Track MVPs: Erin Ball and Ben Truman

Rye Varsity Indoor Track and Field Head Coach Bryan Johnson has named his two MVPs for the 2024-25 season: senior Erin Ball (girls) and junior Ben Truman (boys).

“Erin has not only been a stellar athlete, but also a great representative of the Rye Track program as a whole,” Johnson said of Ball after her season ended at nationals. “[She] has worked quite well with the younger members of our program as she encourages those who are trying both long and high jump for the first time.”

Ball’s season was full of remarkable performances, none better than her 5′ 5″ high jump in the Section 1 championship meet, the 6th-best mark in the entire state of New York this year. She ended up as a league champion in both the high jump and long jump events, also winning the Westchester County championship and aforementioned Class B Sectional championship in her speciality high jump, finishing as a the runner-up in both those competitions in the long jump. She is set to graduate this spring, and her production will be greatly missed by the Garnets next winter.

Her teammate Ben Truman will not graduate at year’s end, as the junior claimed the co-MVP with a stellar season that also saw him appear at nationals in mid-March.

“Ben is an extremely hardworking athlete who is versatile enough to run both the 300-meter and 600M at a high level,” Johnson said of his top male athlete. “[He] works in a mixture of distance training with intense sprint workouts, always putting forth his best effort on the track.”

Truman finished the winter as a league champion in both the 300M and 600M races, and was also on Rye’s league-winning 4 x 400M relay. He came in 4th in the Westchester County championship meet in the 600M, his best event, a placement that earned him a chance to race the 800M relay at nationals. There, the junior turned in a solid 2:01.22 time to cap off a great year and set himself up for an equally successful spring season to come.