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Lely'­s Fortin Faustin accounted for half of the Trojan boys total team points, earning them a fifth place finish out of the 19 teams competing in the Cougar Invitational, Mar. 22.

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Fortin Faustin, Lely’s do-it-all track and field star, was a busy man last Saturday at the Barron Collier’s Cougar Challenge.

The senior competed in four events, placing in the top seven in each and almost single-handedly guiding the Trojans to a fifth-place finish in the 19-team event. For Faustin, it was just another day on the track.

Actually, the senior admits, it was a bit of an off day. When someone who accounts for almost half your team’s total points and says it’s considered a bad day, Faustin’s coaches say, you know you’ve got something special.

“He’ll do anything and everything,” Trojan coach Mike McGarity said. “He’s an outstanding young man. I just want him to get to

the top.”

Faustin, the workhorse in the backfield of Lely’s football team, has filled the same role for the Trojans’ track and field squad this spring. He competes in four events, and if the FHSAA allowed it, he’d do even more.

So far, Faustin is unbeaten in the long jump. He stayed that way Saturday by winning the event at the Cougar Challenge and providing 10 points for the Trojans in the team standings.

With a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles, Faustin added another six points for his team and gained two more by taking seventh in the 100. He also led Lely’s 4x100 relay team to a fourth-place finish to run his total to 23 of the Trojans’ 53 points at the meet.

“He’s an athlete,” said Gary Smith, Lely’s assistant who works with sprinters and jumpers. “He’s got the desire. He loves to win. He’s just a great kid.”

And he’s a kid who’ll do anything to help his team win. Until an FHSAA rule change two years ago, Faustin would be allowed to compete in five events, but restrictions now limit him to three running events and four total.

That doesn’t mean Faustin isn’t willing to try something outside of his regular four events – the 100, 300 hurdles, 4x100 relay and long jump.

“Anything I ask him to do, he’ll give it a shot,” Smith said. “It’s a pleasure to be around a kid like that.”

Last week, in a practice meet against Palmetto Ridge, Faustin tried his hand at the 200. In his first time in the event, he completed the race in 23.8 seconds, a time that would have won Saturday’s Cougar Challenge.

“I think I can do it all,” Faustin said of his mentality on the track. “At district I want to win all my events.”

Faustin said his best event, and his favorite, is the long jump. While one usually envisions long jumpers as tall and lanky, with long legs capable of stretching out for extra inches, that image doesn’t describe Faustin, who’s not much more than the 5’8” he’s listed on Lely’s football roster.

The key to his leaping ability, Smith said, is Faustin’s powerful legs. Those legs helped him churn out almost 1,200 yards during football season while averaging seven yards a carry. Smith said Faustin, who weights about 160, can squat 400 pounds in the weight room.

In addition to padding Lely’s team point total, Faustin is one of the team’s emotional leaders. Not only does he lead by example, Smith said, but he also can be vocal when he

needs to be.

“He really talks to the kids and motivates them,” Smith said. “He’s a real leader and a joy to work with.”

With the district meet just weeks away, Faustin is working on the finishing touches to his career. He qualified for the 300 hurdles at last year’s state meet, but his day ended in disappointment when he didn’t make the finals.

He’s hoping to return once again to the state meet, this time in a few more events.

“I need to keep working hard, starting next week (at the Collier County Athletic Conference meet),” Faustin said. “I think I can do well at district and hopefully move on to state.”