The track team is gearing up for another season and the county championship should result in rising champions.
Last year’s state champion in the pole vault, graduate Amy Luttrell raised the bar for the pole vault program. Senior Brayden Hafen, is looking to soar to new heights, after taking 3rd place at the indoor state championship.
“Last year at county I no heighted and took a pretty bad fall off the pit. I was really disappointed with my performance, and my fall caused me to injure my wrist, putting me out for some of the season. Being the county champion this year is definitely one of my goals for the season, and breaking the county record would be even greater. The county record is 15 feet, which is my current PR, so that is definitely in reach for me,” Hafen said.
Senior Emma Gardner’s track career has been chalked full of accomplishments and shattered records. Last year at the county championship, Gardner set new records in the shot and discus. This year, she looks to build on her previous successes before taking her collegiate career to IU.
“Last year at county, I focused really hard on beating other people, but this year I’m going to focus more on beating myself and my past marks. I really want to get better and prove that I deserve to be competing at the college level. County is the earliest big meet so it gives me a chance to have some good competition and set a new PR,” Gardner said.
Junior Lily Rollings has made strides in her track and cross country career. One goal is becoming the county champion in either the 1600 or 3200. After finishing 5th last year in the 1600 with a time of 5:27, she has improved her personal record and is focused on reaching the top of the podium.
“Last year, there were many upperclassmen I had to race against in the mile. Since then they have graduated, and I have been putting in a lot of work in the pre-season to get faster and prepare for bigger meets like county. As of now, my season best is a 5:12, which puts me 15 seconds faster than last year ,” Rollings said.
Freshman Maddie Judge is known for being a swiss-army knife on the track. Competing in events from the discus to the high jump to the hurdles, Judge seems to do it all. However, specifically at the county meet, Judge’s eyes are set on the podium in the high jump.
“High school is a lot different from middle school, so my ultimate goal is to just go out there and do my best. I really want it to go well, and my ultimate goal for the meet is to place. Sometimes at bigger meets, I get in my head, so I’m going to try and have a good mindset going into it. In middle school, I won the high jump at county in seventh grade; however, in eighth grade I wasn’t able to compete in high jump because they needed me in another event. We ended up winning the county championship as a team, which was pretty cool,” Judge said.
Senior Will Riley took home the County title in both the 100m and 200m last year. This year, Riley hopes to keep his title.
“Having county so early in the season is always a big confidence booster, having won the 100m and the 200m in past years, County really sets the standard for the rest of my season. Especially racing against Center Grove and Whiteland, those bigger schools with good competition are a good way to see where I am at the beginning of the season,” Riley said.
