Noah Ward to race for Ivy League Harvard

He may be Philip Simmons High School’s role model for athletic and academic success for many, many, many years to come.

 

Noah Ward is the epitome of what it’s like to be near the top of the chart when it comes to being an ultimate student-athlete.

 

The talented senior is athletic enough to be in the conversation when it comes to discuss the top distance runners in state history.

 

And, he’s academic enough to matriculate to Harvard in time for the 2021-22 academic year. Enough said.

 

Ward, who has 4.55 GPA on a weighted scale, made the announcement this week.

 

“It was kind of a no-brainer,” Ward said of his decision. “It is able to meet all of my academic and athletic desires. I wanted to stay close to home or at least in the South, but it didn’t work out that way. This will be a learning experience, and one thing I will get to learn about is cold weather. But it’s worth it. I love the coaches and the team.”

 

He also loves the school.

 

Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard is a private Ivy League research university. Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is one of the most prestigious in the world.

 

“Our entire family is just so proud of him,” Ward’s mother, Alicia, said. “He handled the whole process, which as you know is like a year long. With all the changes due to COVID and all the limitations it presented, he handled it with such grace and determination and a positive attitude, while keeping his grades up and maintaining his grueling training schedule.”

 

Ward is in his final season of high school running. He began his career at Hanahan and transferred to Philip Simmons when it opened its doors four years ago.

 

What a career it has been.

 

He was on a Hanahan team that won a state championship, and he has seven individual gold medals in cross country and track and field. That total would have been higher if the track and field season last spring had not been wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Ward was named to the state’s all-decade track and field team.

 

Ward will run cross country and track and field (indoor and outdoor), so he will be running and studying year round. He will arrive in Cambridge in August.

 

Ward had an impressive list of schools interested in him in addition to Harvard. He also considered the University of Virginia, Georgetown, University of North Carolina, Michigan and Wake Forest.

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and NCAA rules, Ward was unable to take any official visits. He might be able to go to Cambridge this spring and spend time on campus and with teammates when the Accepted Student Day is held.

 

“It was interesting without taking any official visits,” Ward said. “There was Zoom. A lot of phone calls from too many coaches.”