After eight trips to state championship meets as a cross country and track runner, as well as 10 school records, recent Foley graduate Nick Hamby now sets his sights on continuing his academic and athletic careers at the United States Naval Academy.

“This has been a dream of mine for many years now and it is amazing to have the opportunity to achieve my goals,” Hamby wrote in his commitment announcement on Wednesday. “This would’ve never happened without the help and continuous support from family, friends, coaches, teammates, and competitors who pushed me to be the best student, leader, and athlete that I can be.”

Hamby represented the Foley Lions at both the cross country and indoor track state championships as a freshman, junior and senior as well as the outdoor track state championships as a sophomore and junior. On top of that, he also qualified for the swimming state championships as a senior in two events.

According to school records on athletic.net, Hamby owns the best time in five outdoor track races (1000, 1600, 3200, 1 mile, 2 mile), three races on the indoor track circuit (800, 1600 and 3200) and two more on the cross country course (4K, 5K). Before his senior outdoor season was cut short due to injury, Hamby collected the record in the cross country 5K and the indoor 1600-meter run at state meets.

“Coming off of a strong indoor season, I hoped for an even better outdoor season to finish my high school career. It was very heartbreaking to see that this was not the case and my high school career was ended short due to injury,” Hamby wrote. “Although I didn’t finish the season as I would have wished, the last 4 years were amazing and memories were created that will last forever. Thank you to all of my teammates and competitors who made this possible. Now onto bigger and better things. GO NAVY!”

Coached by Jamie Cook, Director of Track and Field/Cross Country, and Chris Campbell, Associate Head Coach, the pair recently represented the Navy Midshipmen as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s Mid-Atlantic Region Outdoor Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively.

This past spring, the Midshipmen outdoor track squad collected its 11th straight victory in the series against Army with a 126-77 win in the Star Meet, marking the second-largest margin of victory. Navy went on to collect its ninth consecutive Patriot League Outdoor Championship and swept the conference title with the women’s team for the fifth straight year.