Hall of Fame Inductee - Matthew Flachs

Simply put, Matt Flachs is the most accomplished distance runner in Quincy High School history.

The 1996 QHS graduate is the only runner in school history to medal at the state cross country meet, finishing 20th in Class AA in 1994. The next fall, he helped the Blue Devils capture their first sectional championship in school history. Along the way, he captured back-toback Western Big Six Conference championships.

On the track, Flachs was equally talented. He finished sixth in the 1,600-meter run finals at the Class AA state track meet in 1996. He also a WB6 title in the 800 run and was part of two WB6 championship relay teams in the 1,600 and the 3,200.

After running a year each at Southwestern Michigan College and Danville Area Community College, Flachs wrapped up his career at Western Michigan. He finished 10th at the Mid-American Conference championships.

Flachs and his wife, Amy, have two kids and live in Fort Collins, Colo.

Acceptance Speech

First and foremost, I would like to give praise and glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for saving me from myself. I can only give Him the full credit for all my earthly accomplishments. I am deeply grateful for being inducted into the Quincy Senior High School Athletic Hall of Fame. This truly is a great honor and I am so thankful for all my student-athlete experiences during my high school years and I am proud to be a graduate of Quincy Senior High School.

My junior year of high school, I was encouraged to change direction from soccer to cross country, a decision with which I am still thankful for. Because of this decision, I was blessed to be challenged both physically and mentally, privledged to be coached by men I respected and admired, and had the honor of competing and representing QHS with my fellow teammates.

I do have many people to thank and I know I would not have been inducted if it wasn’t for all those people. To start, I want to thank my parents, Patrick and True Flachs, for being my number one fans and my biggest supporters. It always made me proud to see them at almost every sporting event throughout my life. Even if I was only going to run two short track races in Buffalo, N.Y., they were there to encourage me to do my best. So thank you Mom and Dad!

I would like to thank my high school coach, Ty Wolf, who undertood how to lead, motivate, and inspire myself and my teammates. Coach Wolf was a Division I collegiate All- American who brought a tremendous amount of compassion and “will to win” to QHS in a manner that took the distance program to a whole new level. He taught us not only how to win in cross country and track races, but most importantly, how to win in life. I must also thank my friends, and former teammates, Andy Rose, Jim Lowary, Eric Davis, Adam Spory, Joe Skiles, Mat Littleton and David Clark. All of these individuals deserve to share a part of this induction. All were fierce competitors who were committed to making each team member better throughout each season.

Andy Rose was a great mentor to me and the leader of our teams who taught me the toughness it took to win races. I must give Jim Lowary an extra thank you, because he would never let me skip a 5:30 am morning run, no matter what. So thanks Jim for teaching me that the extra work put in really pays off. Eric, Adam, Joe, Mat and David were some of the best teammates I’ve ever had and I feel privledged to have had the opportunit y to compete with them.

I would also like to thank my older brothers, Mark and Greg Flachs. Mark and Greg taught me at an early age how to run and how to run fast because they were chasing me due to some childhood antics. Mark and Greg were amazing athletes themselves and I really had an opportunity to learn from them as they competed in their own athletic events.

And finally, I would like to thank Coach Kerry Anders for his wisdom and leadership and the Hall of Fame Committee for selecting me into an overwhelmingly group of elite athletes.

In closing, I and my teammates shared many individual and team successes in cross country and track meets in the Western Big Six Conference, regional, sectional and state competitions. I will never forget the good ol’ days of QHS cross country and track. Fire up!