Thursday April 11th the Boys and Girls Track teams were honored for their senior nights. They participated in the Jesse Day Relay meet at Brady Street Stadium. The Jesse Day Relay is a relay-only track meet. The girls team placed 9th, while the boys placed 6th overall.
“This meet went well for me, I usually run 200 or 400 events and I placed in both my events and got a PR on my 400,” senior Meredith Mitchell said.
Although each athlete runs by themselves, they join together to form relays. Using teamwork to run the fastest time possible, sets teams up for success.
“My favorite moment was when I passed a couple of teams in the sprint med to secure us a place,” Mitchell said.
Track athletes work towards two major competitions: the Drake Relays and the State Competition. Both meets athletes have to have a certain time to qualify.
“Just the steady improvements over a three month period. So starting to see them get better at handoffs or doing better in relays. They are definitely moving in the right direction towards peaking for the postseason,” girls track coach Dominique Nunn said.
Making improvements in track meets are very miniscule but make a drastic change in placements. A time cut of mere seconds can get you onto the podium.
“Coming over to the program this year, I noticed right away that these group of senior girls have a lot of calmness to them. They’re competitors like they love to win, but they are also open-minded and team players,” Nunn said.
As athletes spend their years on their sports team, they make an impact. An impact that guides the next group of athletes coming up.
“Running track at West gave me many opportunities to grow and meet new people,” senior Jevon Henderson said.
Being a part of extracurriculars during high school gives students more opportunities to connect with other people from different schools as well as ours.
