Track is a sport where you can individually shine, and still come together as a team. Our girls’ track and field team won state last year. With multiple talented individuals within the team, there are high hopes for another state championship this year.
Although track is made up of all kinds of events, they each have one thing in common: hard work. Without hard work behind the scenes, talent can only get you so far. Each day the team practices, preparing to compete with full potential at meets. Some even do off-season to become even better, or because they enjoy the sport so much. There is a lot of work beyond training to be better, including fueling one’s body correctly, ensuring rest, all while staying on top of school work.
In surveying several members of the team, they agreed that one of the hardest parts of track can be balancing their time between homework, meets/practices, and rest. The team feels encouraged to do well both on and off the track by the amazing coaches of the sport. The sport revolves around doing well and becoming better, like many other sports, but also includes the aspect of becoming better as an individual and still being able to function as a whole team.
Coach Alex Depauw, a sprinter and long jump coach, stated his expectations and hopes for this season: “Fairly similar to every season, we [all coaches] expect everyone to work hard, trust the system we built, and do their best. Going into every season, we coach it as if we are going to win a trophy. We absolutely have the tools on this team to have a run at a trophy.”
He continued, “I coach every athlete that I work with in the same way. Every athlete has the potential to get better. We talk about athletes who make huge gains that have just started, and athletes who have been running for years and only make small gains. I just want these athletes to get better.”
It is early in the season, and many girls are still training to improve even more. They won at Mendota’s meet on Saturday, April 11th, setting exciting expectations for the team’s success overall. The team will be competing at the Seneca Invitational this Friday and the Prairie Central Invitational on Saturday.
