On Thursday, Apr. 19, Davenport West’s track teams won six events in the A Division at the Bettendorf ABC Track Invitational. Senior Andrew Wright won the 1600 meter and junior Kameron Morgan took the win for the 3200 meter race. This will be the first time coach Marty Leal will take a 3200 meter relay team to Drake in his 16 years working as a coach. 

“It feels good,” Wright said. “It feels better when you are able to go for your coach [or] a person you really care about.”

The team practiced for speed runs such as the 600 meters in tempo pace. Tempo pace is a faster paced workout that improves metabolic fitness while helping to remind runners to ‘kick’ the last 200 meters.

“We all work as a team and we wanted to be at the top of the level where people [would] talk about us,” Morgan said.

Currently, the boys team is preparing for the Drake Relays throughout the week by working out and keeping their body in shape, while also staying mentally focused. Drake Relays is a three-day race that starts Thursday. The team is going up tonight to get a lay of the land. 

“Originally, I wasn’t interested in it [track] until my junior year. I just thought I go out for it and my last year was a lot of fun so this year I wanted to do it again,” Anfinson said. “And my coach is always talking to me about being part of a four-way team or the shuttle hurdle team and possibly making state, and the idea of qualifying for Drake didn’t come into mind until we ran at Jessie Day and happen to run a great time, so we just went with that.”