Track and Field Season Begins
By: Aharon Shelef
April 2022
At 4:00 PM on Monday, March 7, over a hundred students gathered in the Van Hise Gym for the first day of track and field practice. After some announcements from head coaches Anna Unruh and Matt Richardson, the athletes split into their event groups, each of which has its own assistant coaches.
The groups are called distance, mid-distance, sprints, jumps, and throws, with the first three focused mostly on running. The distance runners run 800, 1600, or 3200 meters, the longest of the groups. For reference, 1600 meters is about a mile.
Mid-distance runners run slightly less, either 400, 800, or 1600 meters. Sprint runners, on the other hand, focus mostly on speed, racing for 100, 200, or 400 meters. The sprinting category also includes hurdles. For boys, the hurdling events include sprinting 110 meters and leaping over 39-inch hurdles, as well as sprinting 300 meters with 36-inch hurdles. The options for girls are 100 meters with 33-inch hurdles and 300 meters with 30-inch hurdles. Track and field also includes relay races of varying lengths.
Jumpers and throwers are a little different from runners. Jumpers focus on different forms of jumping, including high jumps, triple jumps, long jumps, and pole vaulting. Some of these events are geared towards jumping farther, whereas others reward jumping higher. Meanwhile, throwers participate in the shot put and discus events. In shot put, competitors hurl a heavy ball, 12 pounds for boys and about 8.8 pounds for girls. In discus, athletes throw a heavy disc, approximately 3.5 pounds for boys and about 2.2 pounds for girls.
Many freshmen have joined track and field for the first time this year. The Regent Review talked to one such freshman, Ava Pevehouse, about the upcoming season and her experiences so far. Ava plans to participate in sprinting and jumping this season, specifically the high jump and 100 meter dash. When asked what excited her most about track and field, Ava responded, “meeting new people and trying things I haven’t done before is really exciting,” as well as “just getting a chance to be active!” While she conceded that “it’s been a little different from what I thought it would be,” Ava made clear that she has “really been enjoying” the sport and “would definitely recommend it” for students in future years.
Several are welcoming the return to normal for track and field. In the spring of 2020, the season was canceled completely due to the pandemic; in turn, the 2021 season was not quite a return to normal. Athletes had to run in masks and stay in “pods” to prevent the spread of the virus. Additionally, the season happened much later than normal and was merged with the cross country season that had been canceled in the fall.
Regardless of the unusual circumstances in 2021, many students enjoyed it. Lily Matthews-Needleman, a senior who has participated in track and field since her freshman year, told the Regent Review, “The track season [was] definitely a relief from having to be on Zoom school all day, and… it was just nice to go out and actually see people and run with people because I feel like when I was doing that on my own, I was a lot less motivated.” When asked for her favorite part of track and field, Lily, who competes in distance running events, said, “I always find the meets super stimulating. Since track consists of so many events, there’s never really a dull moment, even if I’m just watching and not running myself.”
With the track and field season already beginning in earnest, there will certainly be plenty of action in the next couple of months. The first meet was on April 2, and meets will occur about once a week. For now, the athletes are content with a relatively normal track and field season after two years without one.
April 2022
At 4:00 PM on Monday, March 7, over a hundred students gathered in the Van Hise Gym for the first day of track and field practice. After some announcements from head coaches Anna Unruh and Matt Richardson, the athletes split into their event groups, each of which has its own assistant coaches.
The groups are called distance, mid-distance, sprints, jumps, and throws, with the first three focused mostly on running. The distance runners run 800, 1600, or 3200 meters, the longest of the groups. For reference, 1600 meters is about a mile.
Mid-distance runners run slightly less, either 400, 800, or 1600 meters. Sprint runners, on the other hand, focus mostly on speed, racing for 100, 200, or 400 meters. The sprinting category also includes hurdles. For boys, the hurdling events include sprinting 110 meters and leaping over 39-inch hurdles, as well as sprinting 300 meters with 36-inch hurdles. The options for girls are 100 meters with 33-inch hurdles and 300 meters with 30-inch hurdles. Track and field also includes relay races of varying lengths.
Jumpers and throwers are a little different from runners. Jumpers focus on different forms of jumping, including high jumps, triple jumps, long jumps, and pole vaulting. Some of these events are geared towards jumping farther, whereas others reward jumping higher. Meanwhile, throwers participate in the shot put and discus events. In shot put, competitors hurl a heavy ball, 12 pounds for boys and about 8.8 pounds for girls. In discus, athletes throw a heavy disc, approximately 3.5 pounds for boys and about 2.2 pounds for girls.
Many freshmen have joined track and field for the first time this year. The Regent Review talked to one such freshman, Ava Pevehouse, about the upcoming season and her experiences so far. Ava plans to participate in sprinting and jumping this season, specifically the high jump and 100 meter dash. When asked what excited her most about track and field, Ava responded, “meeting new people and trying things I haven’t done before is really exciting,” as well as “just getting a chance to be active!” While she conceded that “it’s been a little different from what I thought it would be,” Ava made clear that she has “really been enjoying” the sport and “would definitely recommend it” for students in future years.
Several are welcoming the return to normal for track and field. In the spring of 2020, the season was canceled completely due to the pandemic; in turn, the 2021 season was not quite a return to normal. Athletes had to run in masks and stay in “pods” to prevent the spread of the virus. Additionally, the season happened much later than normal and was merged with the cross country season that had been canceled in the fall.
Regardless of the unusual circumstances in 2021, many students enjoyed it. Lily Matthews-Needleman, a senior who has participated in track and field since her freshman year, told the Regent Review, “The track season [was] definitely a relief from having to be on Zoom school all day, and… it was just nice to go out and actually see people and run with people because I feel like when I was doing that on my own, I was a lot less motivated.” When asked for her favorite part of track and field, Lily, who competes in distance running events, said, “I always find the meets super stimulating. Since track consists of so many events, there’s never really a dull moment, even if I’m just watching and not running myself.”
With the track and field season already beginning in earnest, there will certainly be plenty of action in the next couple of months. The first meet was on April 2, and meets will occur about once a week. For now, the athletes are content with a relatively normal track and field season after two years without one.