Thirty years ago, it was four adults and eleven kids on a track in High Point. Yesterday, it was a full meet that carries Coach Ken’s name. That’s the whole story right there — but let us tell it properly.
A cold one. We didn’t blink.
Let’s be honest about the forecast first, because everybody who showed up earned it. Late May in the Piedmont is supposed to mean low-80s and sunscreen. Saturday gave us none of that. We topped out at 62 degrees — about twelve degrees below where it should be — under a sky that stayed gray from warm-up to the last relay. There was rain. There was even a rumble of thunder. The wind came out of the south and gusted hard enough to make you respect every block start.
And the High Point Athletic Complex was packed anyway.
Athletes warmed up in sweats they didn’t want to take off. Parents lined the fence under hoods and umbrellas. Nobody went home. If you set a personal best in that — and plenty of our Panthers did — you set it twice as hard as the clock says. We make it look easy. You know.
For Diane. For Ken. For thirty years.
Panthers ELITE started in 1996. Coach Ken Roberts and his wife, Diane, built it from nothing — four adults, eleven athletes, and a belief that a track could do more for a kid than a track is supposed to. They were right. Coach Ken put it plainly back then: replace the wrong things with the right ones. Hard work. Gatorade. A relay baton in your hand. An anti-violence, drug-free place to grow up. That was the mission in 1996 and it is still the mission in 2026.
We lost Coach Ken in 2015. The meet has carried his name ever since, because his name belongs on it. He didn’t just found this club — he coached it, in person, in the heat and in weather exactly like Saturday’s. Parents used to say it best: Coach Ken taught the kids how to be better athletes and taught the grown-ups how to be better parents.
And Diane Roberts was right there yesterday, where she has always been — running the awards area, keeping the administrative side moving, making sure every athlete who earned a medal got one put in their hand. Thirty years in, she is still the steady center of this thing. When you watch Diane work a meet, you are watching three decades of love for these kids in real time. Thank you, Diane. From all of us.
The man who picked up the baton
When Ken passed, somebody had to pick this up, and Coach Tyrone Hilliard did. He stepped in without being asked twice and took on the whole thing.
That’s a hard job and we don’t think it gets said enough. You take over something a founder built and you’re carrying his standards, his history, and a name everyone in the program loves. Tyrone has carried it well. The club has kept growing under him and the kids keep competing well, and a meet this size going off cleanly in bad weather is part of that picture too. Ken started this club. Tyrone has kept it going—orchestrating schedules, meets, events, operations, and wearing all of the hats well. We’re grateful for him. Thank you, Coach.
The volunteers — our actual MVPs
A meet this size does not run itself, and ours ran well.
That happened because a small army of volunteers showed up in the cold and stayed all day. Clerking heats. Working the finish line. Marking the pits. Pouring water. Pointing lost first-year athletes toward the right tent. Standing in the wind for hours so the kids never had to wonder what was next.
If you volunteered Saturday, hear this clearly: the meet was good because you were there. Coach Ken built this club on volunteers, and you carried that forward exactly the way he’d have wanted. Thank you.
Family came home
One of the best parts of the day had nothing to do with the clock. Former Panthers — athletes and families from years and even decades of this program — came back to the complex just to be part of it. Some of them ran on this track as kids. Some are grown now with kids of their own. They came back because once you’re a Panther, you stay one.
Thirty years builds that. You don’t get alumni walking back through the gate unless the place meant something to them. Saturday, the gate stayed busy.
Our Panthers showed up and showed out
Our athletes competed hard across the sprints, distance, relays, and field events, and we had Panthers reach the podium and post personal bests up and down the age groups — and they did it in cold, wet, gusty conditions that made every mark count double.
The official results are in. Pull up the meet, find our athletes, and see for yourself what a Panther day looks like. We are proud of every single one of you who toed the line Saturday. View the Official Meet Results Ken Roberts Track Challenge 2026
Photos coming soon
Big thank-you to Panthers ELITE parent Justin Figueroa, who was on the sidelines all day with his camera capturing our athletes in action. Justin’s photos are being sorted now — the gallery is coming soon to the site. Keep an eye out. There are some great ones from a not-so-great-weather day.
Thirty down
Four adults and eleven kids in 1996. A full meet with the founder’s name on it in 2026. Cold rain on Saturday, and not one Panther who flinched.
That’s thirty years. That’s Coach Ken’s legacy, carried by Diane, by the coaches, by the volunteers, and by every athlete who toed the line in 62-degree rain and wind because this is what we do.
We make it look easy. You know.