Photo by Steve Buchanan Photography
Severna Park High School senior Tyler Canaday is exceptionally homed in on both the future and present. Canaday is crystal clear about what he wants to do for the rest of his working life—be a civil engineer. He will be attending a school whose engineering program is ranked among the country’s best, Cornell University, where he’ll run cross country, and indoor and outdoor track.
“It’s the math-science part that is very challenging to me,” says Canaday, who helped the Falcons to the Class 4A state cross country championship last fall as the team’s top finisher. “Civil engineering is like putting up buildings, bridges, and roads. I like being creative and it drives me.”
It seems Canaday will have some added comfort at Cornell because of a friend who is already there. His high school teammate, Jake Gelfand, is in his first year at Cornell. They ran together for three years at Severna Park and spearheaded a distance medley team that finished fourth in the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals in Virginia Beach in February of 2021. That allowed the team to earn All-American honors.
“When I went on my visit up there, Jake was the one who showed me around and introduced me to the team members,” Canaday explains. “It was really cool. It will definitely help make the transition easier.”
The 6-foot-1, 137-pound Canaday will be headed to the Ithaca, New York, school with a strong academic resume. He carries a 4.7 grade-point average and is taking five advance placement classes this year. He also runs in cross county, indoor and outdoor track, works at Fleet Feet Annapolis, participated in Appalachia Service Projects, and helped rebuild homes for impoverished families in Kentucky and West Virginia. “I am very organized and try not to waste a lot of time,” Canaday says. “I just keep myself very busy.”
Canaday is exactly the type of student-athlete Cornell seeks—a hard-working standout performer. “He really fits the mold of what we are looking for,” Cornell Cross Country Coach Mike Henderson says. “A lot of students on our team have that math-engineering interest. He really fits in well with our program.”
Obviously, academics drove Canaday’s decision to go to Cornell, but he is just as enthusiastic about running for the Big Red. “They’ve had some serious success in the Ivy League, so that’s a big draw for me,” Canaday says. “It will be great competing on the Division I national level.”
Canaday had a slow start to his career at Severna Park. He joined the indoor track team as a freshman, and it took the rest of the school year to adjust to the sport. The 18-year-old missed the cross country and indoor track seasons during his sophomore year because of a torn hamstring. After training extra hard during the pandemic, which wiped out the 2020 cross country season and 2021 indoor campaign, Canaday broke out in the spring of last year. He took fourth in the region and second in the state in the 1,600 meters.
He continued to have success this past fall, placing second in the county and 10th in the state. “We knew he had the potential to do well, and help out the team,” Severna Park Cross Country and Track Coach Josh Alcombright says. “Becoming one of the best runners in the state was above and beyond what we thought could happen. He is very focused and dedicated. He has more questions than a typical athlete. He is very analytical.”
Competing in national events means more to Canaday than the local and regional finishes. He participated in XC Town USA Meet of Championships in Indiana in November of 2020, the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals in Virginia Beach three months later, and the Garmin Running Lane Cross Country Nationals in December of last year in Alabama.
His performance in Alabama—he broke a school record in the 5K (15:03)—is etched in his memory. “It was kind of like winning a state championship,” Canaday says of his effort in Alabama.
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