While most student athletes are competing with their peers and classmates, WHS senior Brady Thomas and sophomore Ben Thomas are in a unique position: competing as brothers. Both brothers participate in the WHS track program, and their bond as siblings helps them maintain healthy competition while encouraging each other to push themselves as athletes.
Brady Thomas currently holds multiple school records, one being the 4x400m record set with his brother. The two of them set this record along with senior Sawyer Regan and junior Chris Butters with a time of 3:32.56, with Ben Thomas starting the relay and Brady Thomas being the last leg.
“I think one day he will beat all my times and I am sure I will never hear the end of it, but I do hope that he breaks the records I set but I am definitely going to try to make that hard for him to do. But overall, my goals are for him to be better than me one day,” Brady Thomas said.
The brothers have always been very competitive and finding a balance between brothers, teammates and competitors can be challenging and took some time as Ben Thomas continued to progress in his times.
“I do think it took time to learn a balance between competition between each other and competition between me and myself. I kept trying to beat him. I gave up on trying to beat myself and that led me to be complacent and not be the best I could be,” Brady Thomas said.
As captain, Brady Thomas is able to help his younger brother as he develops along with motivating him.
“Brady definitely motivated me on the track. Either if I am in his race or not, I can always hear him cheering for me and trying to push me to do better. If I am in his race, that competitive feeling comes back and it pushes me to always try to catch him or run as fast as him and I have seen a lot of success in that,” Ben Thomas said.
Before beginning his running career, Ben Thomas played both football and lacrosse, but after he joined winter track his freshman year, he decided to fully focus on track. He quit both other sports in order to join cross country his sophomore year in the fall.
“The [track] environment was better and I felt like myself in track more than anywhere else or any other sport I have played. I had a bit of regret during that spring season last year, but after a few meets, I had no regrets and I was so happy to do it because I have met all my new friends and teammates who I feel are just like me,” Ben Thomas said.
Brady Thomas has a great impact on his brother throughout his time at Walpole and messages Ben with pre-race plans and pieces of support or advice before each meet. In practice during workouts, Brady Thomas has been able to push and motivate his brother to achieve his best, along with providing constructive criticism. Practice is six days a week for two plus hours and both brothers have said that track has brought them closer together. Although sports at the high school level are competitive, the two are always supporting each other and the rest of the team. When the brothers are put in the same race, it pushes one another to do better and be the best that they can be.
“My one piece of advice to [Ben] would be to be patient. And that goes for a lot of different things as well. Progress takes time, a lot of people will train and not see results immediately and just give up right then and there when in reality it takes time,” Brady Thomas said.
As Brady Thomas graduates as the class of 2026 and leaves Walpole High School to run Division I track and field at the University of New Hampshire, he continues to pass the baton to his brother.
