AUSTIN - Two days before the biggest meet of his life, Tevin Reese could have been relaxing at home in cool, air-conditioned confines or hanging out with friends and soaking up the adulation that comes with being a high school’s premier athlete.

But that’s not Reese, an introspective Temple junior who understands that, though he is gifted, almost everything he has accomplished is a byproduct of hard work.

So there was Reese, working out alone on the track at Wildcat Stadium, toiling in the heat so that hopefully he can fulfill dreams that are too big to be hemmed up indoors.

“I feel like I need to get medals in every event and win the hurdles,” he said as sweat streamed down his face. “And I know I need to get better.”

Perhaps more than any one strength, the act of getting better is what Reese has excelled at. He’ll prove that today when he competes in the Class 5A long jump, triple jump and 300-meter hurdles at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

A “good” athlete since he was a child, Reese began rising toward the top as a receiver and kick returner on the Wildcats’ District 13-5A championship football team in the fall and has solidified his spot in the upper realm of Central Texas athletes this spring.

But it didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen while sitting indoors - even though Reese, like most teenagers, enjoys time with his friends.

“When I’m not working out, I just sit at home recovering and hang out with my friends,” he said. “We play video games when they come over.”

His ascension to the top and accompanying journey through the Temple record books occurred because Thursday’s time spent practicing alone wasn’t a one-time thing. It’s a habit with Reese.

“I knew as a sophomore I was going to get to state in one event as a junior but I would have to work to get it,” he said. “Coaches told me I had a good chance of going, so I put it in my head that I was going to work hard enough. I would stay after practice and work, and I would work more on the weekends.”

The dividends are readily apparent.

His time of 37.25 seconds in the 300 hurdles at the 5A Region II meet ranks fourth in the state and second in the eight-man field for today’s 7:15 p.m. race. He has triple jumped 48 feet, 7 inches - also second best in the field for today’s 4 p.m. event - and gone 23-2½ in the long jump, which is at 11:30 a.m.

All three efforts are school records.

“Setting three school records was pretty cool,” Reese finally admitted. “But now I’m just trying to break my old records.”

Today he’ll try to become Temple’s first track and field state champion since Jacob Norman won the 100 here in 2004. While Norman and Reese would be linked by their championships, the similarities don’t go much farther.

“They’re both fast and that helps,” said Temple boys track coach Wayne Ransleben, who groomed both athletes. “Tevin is more serious when it comes to working out. Jacob has a special gift and didn’t have to work as hard. Tevin has really worked to become a better jumper and hurdler. He really understands what it takes now.”

Part of what it took was learning to become a leader. After performing in the shadows of teammates in past years, Reese was the main man on this year’s Wildcats team.

“I knew my teammates needed me. I had to be a leader in more ways than I thought I was going to be,” said Reese, who is drawing football and track interest from Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Louisiana State. “My coaches told me to be a physical leader. And when that wasn’t working, I had to call people up to come work out with no coaches. I had to get their head on track.

“At first they didn’t want to do it. But I had to get it in their head, so then they started calling me to come work out.”

Getting Reese to put in some work isn’t a problem, and the icing on the cake might be why he works so hard.

“I can see how I could be a role model, just because of the success,” he said. “So I have to keep doing what I’m doing the right way to set a good example for the little kids and teach them that no matter how big or small or slow or fast you are, you can do amazing things that people never thought you could do.”

And in this day and age, an elite high school athlete who recognizes his duty as a role model is just that - amazing.

edrennan@temple-telegram.com