IOWA CITY — Mac Svalstad anxiously walked in circles around Iowa City West High School’s turf field inside the track, as he did so for nearly three-and-a-half hours watching the track and field events fly by at the 2026 Eastern Iowa Track and Field Festival on April 11.
His skinny six-foot frame was hidden under his black sweatpants and his thermal coat. The shaggy haircut soaked from the ongoing drizzle.
Once the third heat of the 400-meter race was called, the Solon standout freshman removed his layers, exposing his grey and black uniform and kinesiology tape wrapped around both legs. He lined his neon green New Balance shoes against the starting blocks and took off at the pop of the gun.
The 49.14 finish for third place – falling 0.01 seconds short behind the second-place racer – was irrelevant. Getting a sub-49-second time was the goal he failed to reach.
“If I go 49 [seconds] right now, I have another chance to race them at Drake [Relays] and maybe get them next time,” Svalstad said.
The 400-meter race isn’t Svalstad’s main event. His two coaches, head coach Mark Sovers and assistant coach Pat Parysz, treated the meet as a training day to tune up the freshman’s skillset. Because the day before at the Jane Astor Relays at Clear Creek Amana High School, he ran his usual 800-meter race in a staggering 1:55:68 time.
In June 2025, Svalstad traveled to Eugene, Oregon, to compete in the Nike Outdoor Nationals Track and Field Championships. There, he posted a 1:59:67 800-meter time, which was second in the nation amongst all high school class of 2029 and 2030 athletes.
He cut his time down by four seconds in less than a year.
“Mac’s the real [explicative] deal,” Parysz said, who was there with Svalstad in Eugene at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Parysz is a former Solon track standout himself from 2008-11. He was a sprinter that captured 4×100-meter relay titles his senior year at Drake Relays and the Iowa State 3A Track and Field Championships.
He first discovered Svalstad two years prior, where he first heard about the impressive middle school runner. Parysz compared his standout runner to a former Olympian he used to train in Athing Mu – the first American woman to win the 800-meter Olympic gold in 53 years at the 202 Tokyo Olympics.
Mu was 19 years old when she struck gold with an American record time of 1:55:21. Svalstad is already touching that number at just 15 years old and continues to touch personal records every time he steps foot on the track.
A big reason for that is his high motor during workouts. In two years working with Parysz, he’s yet to tap out on a workout.
“That’s where I’m kind of more impressed,” Parysz said.
Throughout the 2025-26 season thus far, Parysz has already had several Division I schools reach out to him about Svalstad. And that’s his ultimate goal, along with winning Drake Relay and Iowa State titles.
Svalstad has the utmost confidence in his abilities to reach state titles, but he and Parysz understand that a 15-year-old competing against 17- and 18-year-olds who are more physically mature can be a tall task as the season progresses.
However, that doesn’t change the potential the freshman is already flashing.
“Just try to remember that I’m a freshman,” Svalstad said. “[I] have three more years, and that it’s really important just to work on my race strategy and get better every race and not worry too much about the results.”