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Building a dynasty one step at a time
The Syberts photographed by Suzanne Aultman Photography
The Sybert family. - photo by Photo provided.
Evelyn Fallon
Updated: Dec 7, 2017, 1:25 PM
Published: Dec 7, 2017, 1:28 PM

Levi Sybert, Richmond Hill High School technology specialist and head track and cross country coach, has worn many hats over the past decade.

He has an undeniable passion, a love for running and a desire to develop the talent of young athletes. These are the very things fueling Sybert to continue his journey in track and field. Long since his days of crossing finish lines, this former runner is building a dynasty in the hill.

Sybert left his hometown in Ohio after high school graduation to pursue music business and concert promotion at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. There on track scholarship, he quickly began to realize his passion was much stronger for track.

Grateful for the scholarship and his ability to run, he felt the urge to begin seeking a program that better suited his abilities. 

“Once I realized how much fun college athletics was, I wanted to continue to pursue it further. Middle Tennessee State University was a Division I school, and I felt like I could fit in well with their program. It was a smooth transition into the program, and a great experience,” said Sybert.

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in technology education from Middle Tennessee State University in 2004, he was offered a job at Siegel High School.

“Western Kentucky started to recruit me to be a graduate assistant coach. I honored my commitment and coached at Siegel, then I resigned a year later,” said Sybert.

While working as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky, he obtained a master’s degree in school guidance counseling in 2005. With his degree under his belt, Sybert and wife Heather began researching areas on the coast to settle down. With their first child on the way, the couple wanted to find the perfect spot to settle down.

“We drove through this area and knew we wanted to be here. My wife Heather was pregnant with our first child and we vacationed in the area in 2005. We drove all over trying to explore surrounding towns. Bryan County Schools wasn’t hiring at the time, but we knew we really liked Richmond Hill. We stopped in at RE/MAX, ended up looking at about 24 houses that day not really expecting to buy right away,” Sybert said.

By the end of the day, they had made an offer on a house on Mill Run Road and have been in here ever since.

In 2006, Sybert took a position with Bryan County Schools.

“The first year we finished the season with five athletes. Jillian Yontz, Janelle McKenney, Patricia Martinez, Donald Roberts and Cody Hall. Now in 2017, we have 165 students signed up to compete,” he said.

Although not all will finish the season, the interest to plug into the sport is there, he said.

“We inherited a baton and two rusty shot puts. This was all the equipment we had — we ended up going up with five that finished to 45, then to 60 — back then we could not host at home because we didn’t have the facility,” Sybert said.

He began a two-year journey to incorporate more and better equipment. The program now has 3,208 meters worth of trails, two hills, an eight-lane track, 14 LED lights, pole vault, LED clock, hosting equipment, land discus, working pavilion and a fully functional steeple chase, the only one in the area, which Sybert said offers a huge advantage to the athletes.

Aside from the new track and field elements and a team that continues to grow in numbers, the winning is what sets RHHS apart from other programs.

Team Top 10 state finishes since 2010    

2010-Boys track and field (10th)

2013-Girls cross country (8th)

2014-Boys track and field (9th)

2014-Girls cross country (9th)

2015-Girls cross country (10th)

2016-Boys cross country (4th)

2017-Boys track and field (2nd)

2017-Girls cross country (10th)

2017-Boys cross country (3rd)

2008-2017 All-State event performances

Track and field = 39

Cross Country = 7

RHHS state champions

2010: Shaquille Walker (800m)

2011: Shaquille Walker (800m)

2016: Daryn Petitt (800m)

2017: Sam James (400m)

2017: Boys 4x400m relay

Region Champions

2012 Girls cross country

2013 Girls cross country

2014 Girls cross country

2015 Girls cross country

2016 Girls cross country

2017 Girls cross country

2013 Boys cross country

2014 Boys cross country

2015 Boys cross country

2016 Boys cross country

2017 Boys cross country

2017 Boys track and field

 None of this would be possible without the demanding work of the athletes and committed coaching staff. Heather Sybert coaches track and field, sprints and jumps. Colette Hammesfahr coaches cross country, track and field and distances. Both have completed six seasons with the team. Mike Skinkle is the newest coach with one season, coaching track and field and pole vault.

“Using athletics, we are cultivating situations that (students) have to respond to in a controlled environment. You want someone to be motivated and learn how to set goals,” said Sybert. “They are setting goals — they have stress of competition and must be able to perform. Coping with success and failure is a part of that. These are all things that can be guided by coaches. We have created issues and situations to help foster these kids as they leave RHHS. They are ultimately learning the foundation of how to cope with situations from athletics.”

Sybert said he plans to continue establishing this student-led, family-oriented culture and allow students to take ownership over their training and progress.

“It is about making personal commitments and experiencing success,” he said.

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Later yall, its been fun
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Ted O'Neil
Updated: May 23, 2018, 6:03 PM
Published: May 23, 2018, 6:05 PM

This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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