After painstaking preseason preparation, the track team is on their way to Warren Central for their Invitational Relays. With indoor track being a short blip on the overall season, athletes must make every second count.
Senior Lily Rollings has been running for six years. She has been competing in the Warren Relays for two years.
“The Warren Relays are important and honestly a little more fun because we get to compete in events that are not very common outdoors such as the 4×1600 and I think that events like the 4×1600 are more fun because it is not a traditional event and it gives us something to look forward to rather than a normal event such as the 4×800. All four of us ran it at the same time and the times were added together to put together a relay time, so rather than handing off the baton we all just finished around the same,” Rollings said.
Sophomore Jocelyn Query has been running for five years. She enjoys competing in the 4×1.
“My favorite event to compete in is the 4×1 because I love the competitiveness and running with my teammates.Last year we were running the 4×1 at mid-state and we all knew it was going to be a close race because we were facing really good schools. We ended up placing 5th and the whole race was very close together between us and the other teams. I also like the 4×1 because in my opinion it is the most exciting race of any meet because it flies by,” Query said.
Rollings has high expectations for herself and her team. She wants to make sure that her team has fun while also working hard and winning events.
“My goal is to relax and have fun and to try to give my all in every event that I am put in to try and help my team earn points. My goal for our team is to get as many wins as possible and honestly give it our all in everything we do,” Rollings said.
Query looks to her seniors for examples.
“On the team I look up to Melanie Le because she is such a sweet person and always find the good in all situations. An example of when Melanie showed the good is when I am having a bad meet or not in a good mood she always tells me it will be okay or that I am doing so good. She just has a fun personality that makes me happier,” Query said.
Mr. Williams is the varsity track and field coach. The Warren relays are important from a coach perspective because they help narrow down the competition and skills of the athletes.
“It is a nice early season to test how we do against some of the other competitors and to see how we’ll do against some of the other teams. All we want to see is improvement from all our varsity athletes that attend. It is right before the county meet so it lets us know what we have,” Coach Williams said.
Sophomore Lucy Galbraith has been running for five years and she has her preseason rituals set for every meet.
“I would say if I had a pre-race ritual it would be that I use the same green and gold hair tie and for a pre-race song, usually anything by Drake. It’s very uplifting,” Galbraith said.
