Dillon Davis might be the only one who sees him, but the 17-year-old knows his father will be there on the sidelines cheering him on as he competes in his first state championship cross country meet Wednesday.

Mike Davis spent so much time cheering his son through mile after mile, Dillon can still hear those words of encouragement even though his father is no longer physically with him.

Mike Davis was diagnosed with ALS in 2004 and passed away July 6, 2006, just days after Dillon turned 14. Before his father's disease put him in a wheelchair, the two would run together, Mike's enthusiasm pushing his son to be his best.

After his father died, Dillon lost some of his desire to push himself — both in the classroom and as a runner.

"He kind of lost the desire to go out and put a lot of effort into his running," said his mom, Cheney Davis-Clark. "For the last couple of years, he hasn't had a desire for school. He would go, but he didn't get very good grades. He'd even talked of just getting a GED."

Then, in June, a neighbor mentioned the area's new high school in Saratoga Springs, where Dillon would attend his junior year, was having a cross country meeting. He went to the meeting at Westlake, and the days and weeks after that, the friendships he formed, the relationships with his coaches, rekindled inside of him what losing his father had tried to snuff out one workout at a time.

"He is very motivated by them," Davis-Clark said of her son's coaches at Westlake High. "I think they've made a huge difference for him. It's been a long time since he's done serious running."

In addition to being the first and only member of the Westlake High cross country team to qualify for Wednesday's state meet, Davis is now excelling in school. He's even talking about making up classes and running in college.

"That's the biggest change I've seen in him," his mom said. "His desire and his excitement and his love for his team."

In addition to being Westlake's best individual runner, he was also voted a team captain. Coach Aaron Robison said starting his high school coaching career with an athlete like Dillon is a dream come true.

"It's wonderful," Robison said of coaching a talent like Dillon. "He leads by example. He's always at practice, working really hard. He succeeds. You have to have a leader that can go out and do well in races in there with the big boys. It's really nice, too, because it sets the standard for where we're going to be in the future."

The entire Westlake cross country team will travel to Sugarhouse Park on Wednesday to cheer Dillon on in his first high-level meet in several years.

"We're all excited," said Robison.

Just as Mike Davis would be if he could join them.

"He would have been way excited," said Dillon, who placed eighth in the region meet to qualify. "He was a scream his guts out kind of guy. When I run, it's all I think about. He pushes me to faster."

e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com