After losing a strong senior class last year, track started fresh with new leadership and a promising group of freshmen runners. A new group of senior captains as well as new womens head coach Kelsey Werre, are pushing the team to take on greater challenges.
“We have already had many athletes beat their personal bests and/or get close to breaking some school records,” Were said.
Even with these improvements, senior captain Andrew Cooper has noticed differences in the team from last year.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year that added unique traits to the track team, but now we have a new group of seniors and it’s entirely different,” Cooper said.
Cooper, who will be running next year at Washington State University, is hoping for big victories for himself and the team in post season.
“I get to work my hardest and hopefully accomplish the goals I’ve had since freshmen year of winning the mile and two mile. If I can do that I might be able to get to nationals,” Cooper said.
Seniors Sean Szymanski, Nick Siegfried, and Hunter Good are also working hard to make it to state this year.
“Only six runners from our district go to state so we could really dominate if we were able to send four people,” Cooper said.
Senior Nate Solly is looking to have an excellent season as well in hurdles.
“My goal is to beat the school record, and a state championship would be nice, but top three in state is my real goal,” Solly said.
Even with all the talent in the senior class, the freshmen have stood out this year for picking up wins at meets and invitationals.
“The freshmen could really do great things when they are seniors – hopefully qualify for nationals,” Cooper said.
Freshmen Cameron Nelson has been having an especially promising season. She earned two individual second place wins, and a second and third place win in relay at a Liberty invitational in March.
“I’m actually doing better than I expected because I was used to the competition in middle school, which was much less intense, but high school is a much higher level of competition. It’s really pushed me to go faster,” Nelson said.
With the promising season that track has been having, they are all looking forward to big wins in the post season and accomplishing their goals.
“Whether it is to record a personal best during the season, earn a varsity letter by scoring enough points, or to place in state, each student is coming to track practice with a different goal in mind,” Were said. “That is what I love about track.”