The first time Landon Josephs touched the ball in a flag football game at Stafford County’s Embrey Mill, the then-6-year-old raced all the way to the end zone for a touchdown and immediately handed the ball to his mother.
“Nobody could really touch him,” said his father, Eric Josephs. “He was too quick laterally and too quick straight-line.”
Landon is still proving to be too quick for the competition.
He’s now a freshman at Spotsylvania High School. At the Class 4 state meet last weekend at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Landon captured championships in the 100 (10.61 seconds) and the 200 meters (21.23). He placed second in the state in the long jump (23 feet, 4 1/4 inches).
He will continue his impressive first varsity track and field season when he competes in the New Balance Nationals June 18-21 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
“I’m excited about it, since it’s my first nationals,” Landon said.
It likely won’t be his last.
Despite this being his first track season — he didn’t participate in indoor track in the winter — Landon is slated to compete in the championship division in the 100 and the 200 at nationals. He’ll compete in the freshman division for the long jump. He set personal bests in the 100 and 200 finals at the state meet.
Sean Hill coaches Landon with the Rouge Elite VA club team.
Hill was teammates with Eric Josephs on the Virginia Military Institute track and field team in the 2000s, and they remained close during Landon’s development. However, even knowing Landon’s pedigree, Hill is floored by the precocious youngster’s rapid ascent.
“I knew he was good,” Hill said. “But I didn’t know he was that good.”
To put Landon’s accomplishments into perspective, Hill noted that when Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles was a freshman at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria (now Alexandria High School), his personal bests in the 100 and 200 were 10.77 and 21.23, respectively.
“That’s pretty good company to be in,” Hill said.
Spotsylvania High School track and field standout Landon Josephs on the Colonial Forge track. (Photo by Jeff Kearney)
Landon is accustomed to being surrounded by talented athletes. His older sister, Brianna Josephs, a rising senior at Spotsylvania, placed third in the 400 meters at the state meet. His twin sister, London, is a standout hurdler for the Knights.
“It’s just a thing that we can bond over when we’re at meets and practices,” Landon said of the role track plays in his relationship with his sisters.
Landon and London were obvious future athletes since they could walk, their father said. Brianna wowed guests at parks with backflips and cartwheels when she was younger.
“They’re just always competitive around the house,” Eric Josephs said. “It doesn’t matter what; they’re always competing. Since Landon was little, I could see he was trying to catch up to big sis [Brianna]. She was the big dog … and he was kind of in the background.”
Landon is now emerging to the forefront.
He became a starting defensive back for the Knights’ varsity football team midway through his freshman season and earned honorable mention all-Battlefield District honors. He focused on strength training and adding muscle to his 5-foot-9, 150-pound frame during the winter, lifting weights with the football team and training with University of Mary Washington assistant track and field coach Anthony Wallace, who has guided area athletes since 2005.
Landon sat down with his father before the outdoor track season began. He informed him that his goal was to run the 100 meters in 10.5 seconds. Eric Josephs thought his son had lost his mind, especially since his best time a year ago was 11.19.
“In my head, I didn’t tell him this, but I thought, ‘You’re not going to touch 10.5,’” he said. “In my head, I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way you’re going to reach that.’ He wrote it down, kept it in his room, in a place where he can see it, and that’s his goal.”
The national competition will give Landon one last chance to hit that mark this season, but he isn’t far away from it. In fact, he’s so close, that he’s readjusted his aim to 10.4 or 10.3.
His father is now a believer.
“He’s capable,” Eric Josephs said. “He can do it.”
Over the next year or so, Landon will determine whether he wants to focus on football or track and field at the next level. His parents and his sisters keep him humble and grounded.
Hill said Landon’s willingness to allow coaches to lead him is what separates him from many other young athletes. He quickly applies coaching critiques and makes immediate improvements.
“Honestly, it’s just keeping him humble, telling him that we’re only really scratching the surface,” Hill said regarding the keys to Landon’s future. “There’s always somebody out there that can do the same thing you can. So, it’s really just putting him in a position where we’re making the uncomfortable comfortable. He does well in that environment.”
