The Manitou Springs High School Track and Field team started its season off on Feb. 27.

Many athletes participate in Track and Field to condition themselves for other sports they play, as Track and Field is often a perfect combination of physical and mental exercise. 

Track and Field offers a wide range of events for students with different interests. For those students who do not enjoy the physical endurance aspect, there are activities without running required. 

The events that don’t include running are the long jump, high jump, triple jump and pole vault. These events allow for MSHS to have a wide variety of students competing for the team. Other events that generally do not require running are all throwing events, like discus, shot put, javelin and hammer throw. 

The running events include 100, 200, and 300-meter springs and the 800 and 1500-meter middle distance runs, in addition to the 3000, 5000, and 10000-meter long-distance runs. There are also many hurdling events such as the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. For those athletes who want to compete on a team, Track and Field offer relays such as the 4×100, 4×400 and mixed 4×400 relays.

The Track and Field coach for MSHS is Anna Mack, and she is excited about the potential for the team this year. 

 The MSHS Track and Field team has had many members who have competed in state competitions. For instance, Bella Coscetti, who graduated in 2022 placed 1st in the triple jump, 9th in the 300m hurdles, 3rd in the long jump and 4th in pole vaulting. Lairden Rogge, current MSHS senior, placed 5th in the 200m and 3rd in the 400m. 

Rogge is very excited to finish his senior season out strong. “I plan on hopefully breaking the current 400 record and my own 200 record from last year” Rogge said. Rogge is planning on committing to a college for track and field in the near future.

The boys’ team placed 5th overall in state competitions last year. They also got second place in Tri-Peaks. “We sent a pretty large group to the state meet,” Mack said.

John Maynard (12) competes in high Jump, long jump, triple jump and four-by-four relays. He placed third in high jump and sixth in long jump last year at state. “There are some records that need to be broken this year and I’m excited to see what we can do as a team,” Maynard said. 

The Mustangs have very organized practices. “We warm up with an 800-meter jog, just two laps around the track, and then we do stretches. Finally, we split off into our groups: sprinters, mid-distance and long-distance runners,” Jayson Saucedo (11) said. 

The players need to focus on stretching and self-care after their practices. This way they prevent future injuries and get better times and scores for their next meet. It is a very challenging sport and requires a lot.

The team lost crucial players last year such as Henry Ilyasova, Anthony Snow and Parker Salladay, who were some of the key players who helped MSHS get to state. 

Due to students being in shape from other sports, Mack has hopes for some highly trained athletes this year. Coach Mack is very excited about this year; the team has roughly 40 kids trying out. “Seeing kids set personal bests and get excited about how their work paid off is really awesome,” Mack said.