As just a sophomore, Fort Lewis College’s Zach Gaumont has already made a name for himself as a standout in both football and track and field. Recruited to FLC as a sprinter and a deep-threat wide receiver, Gaumont has already become a respected and valuable member of both teams with his athletic versatility.
Gaumont made an impact immediately on the football field, leading the football team in receiving yards with 436 and posting a staggering 39.64 yards per catch as a freshman. As a sophomore, Gaumont has blossomed into one of FLC’s top track athletes. At the NAU Tuneup on Feb. 21, he set a new school record in the 60-meter dash, running 6.83 seconds. He improved on that the following week at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships, winning the RMAC championship in 6.74 seconds.
“As he goes from junior to senior, he's going to be that guy that his teammates, the new freshmen and incomers, are looking to because he's got some medals around his neck now,” said FLC associate head coach Josh Drew, who coaches the sprinters. “They're going to be looking to him and saying, ‘Hey, how did you do that? What did you do to accomplish that?’”
Gaumont began playing football in eighth grade as a wide receiver and cornerback, continuing to play both positions in high school. His high school football coach required all football players to run track in the football offseason.
“I kind of just fell in love with it and I realized, ‘I'm not bad at this and this is actually pretty fun,’” Gaumont said about track and field in high school. “Then as I went through high school I just realized I could do something with both sports.”
A successful high school career followed for Gaumont, as he earned a second-place finish at the 2023 Arizona state championships in the 100 in 10.80 seconds his senior year. He lettered four times in track and twice in football.
Gaumont’s speed also helped him become a dangerous wide receiver, both as a deep threat and a player who could turn a short pass into a big gain. This success on the football field in high school caught the eye of FLC football head coach Johnny Cox. He realized Gaumont had big-play ability and could turn the corner on defenses to score touchdowns for the Skyhawks.
“We recruited Zach for football,” Cox said. “During the process, we learned about his track times. So we talked to the track coaches and talked to Zach and there was a mutual interest.”
Being a high-level competitor in two sports helps Gaumont stay in shape year-round, with both sports building off each other and helping him be a well-rounded athlete.
“Football is a game where speed matters,” said Cox. “So if he keeps getting faster and faster, we're able to hopefully take advantage of that. We train all of our athletes in the offseason, in hopes that they get faster. Zach is definitely getting faster.”
Playing football also helps Gaumont on the track. If he sees an opponent who’s bigger than him or is faster than him on paper, it doesn’t matter. He has confidence in himself, his plan and his ability to execute it.
“In football, I'm trying to hit someone,” said Gaumont. “I'm trying to take their head off. Whereas in track, you want to be a little more cool-minded and I really just want to hone in and focus on what I’m about to do.”
For Gaumont, track demands the focus that it does because if he has a bad race or makes a mistake, he has to wait until his next meet to make it up. In football, a dropped pass or missed cut can be made up for on the very next play.
In football, the entire team works together and relies on each other. A victory is earned by the team and the team celebrates together. However, Gaumont also has to rely on his teammates and can’t do it all himself. In track, if he works hard, he knows he’ll see the results immediately.
When Gaumont makes the transition from track season into football season, he’s also running in a very different way. In track, he runs in a predictable, straight line, with the only change of direction being the curve of the track. In football, as a speedy wide receiver, a significant part of Gaumont’s game is cutting and changing direction on a dime. Going from one season to the other means recalibrating and becoming accustomed to a very different style of running.
“It takes me a month or two to run relaxed,” Gaumont said. “You're supposed to be full-speed sprinting but, you want your whole body relaxed … you don't want to be all tight and intense. I always struggle with that at the beginning of the season because in football, you're running tight because someone's chasing you trying to kill you. But in track, you want to make sure your muscles and everything are super relaxed so you can move as fast as you possibly can.”
Looking toward outdoor track, Gaumont is in an excellent position to run very fast. Coming off his conference championship in the 60 indoors, he hopes to continue that momentum and capture a conference podium spot in the 100 and 200 outdoors.
While Gaumont has to wait until the start of his junior year to focus on football, he also has specific goals for what he wants to accomplish this fall after nerve damage in his right arm limited his production as a sophomore.
“I would like to be the role of a speedy player, (catching) deep bombs like my freshman year where I was just getting bombs after bombs and that was really fun,” Gaumont said. “So hopefully I can get back to that … I just need to work with my quarterback more this offseason and I think I could really bring that together my junior year.”
This outdoor track season will be the first year that Fort Lewis will have enough sprinters for relays, which means Gaumont will have the motivation to be part of a team in both of his sports.
“He knows he has to do extra work to be proficient at that, but he's taken that challenge head-on,” said Cox about Gaumont excelling at two sports. “There's a rare amount of kids that are able to do it at that high level … A lot of kids have potential, but they don't have all the other intangibles to get it done. But he has it.”
