Track season is in full swing, and athletes are already anticipating a successful season. Season practices started Monday, Feb. 24 and the team will head to their first meet on March 8.
In season practices run Monday through Friday, from 3:45 to 5:45p.m.. Athletes warm up as a team and then they split into individual event groups to work with event coaches on skills and fitness.
Anna Mack is the head coach for track and field and has been coaching for close to ten years. “I really valued the sport and my coaches when I was growing up, so I like being able to pay it forward to the next group of kids,” Mack said.
One of the team’s biggest struggles is numbers, especially in terms of the girls team. “We don’t have a lot of girls on the team, we’ve been struggling with that for years. So we’re just trying to get more girls interested in coming out for this sport,” Mack said.
Along with having enough people for both the girls and boys teams, it also can be a struggle for the team to have enough athletes for all of the events.
“I think that we don’t have a lot of sprinters this year, so don’t have lot of depth in sprinting and throwing so it’s going to be tough to score points and compete as a team,” Yonas Hanson, a junior who has been on the team for three years, said, “but we’ll definitely try and do our best with what we have.”
Mack believes that this season will be an exciting season with lots of new athletes on the team. “There’s some new blood on the girls side,” Mack said, “and there’s a lot of excitement about what they want to accomplish, and I’m really excited to see that.”
Mackinzy Wall, another junior on the team, is looking forward to this season. “We have a lot of newcomers joining track, so we can improve a lot over this season,” Wall said. “I’m excited for that.”
Although track is more of an individual sport, with athletes doing different events, the team goes out of their way to support and accept everybody that wants to join, which helps to aid their successes.
“We’re a very positive environment. We always have been. I think that’s one of our biggest things,” Wall said.
With the team and coaches working to encourage each other they create a supportive space for athletes to work hard and accomplish their goals.
“I think that running is like the most fulfilling sport you can do, because you work hard and you’re rewarded for your hard work, and it keeps you consistent and dedicated in other aspects of your life,” Hanson said.
