As the end of track season is coming around the corner, the seniors have to say goodbye, and the upperclassmen a short farewell. A lot of progress has been made in the past month by the track team. Junior Jarrett Boyd broke the record for the 800 meter race, and advanced to the WPIAL individual championships.
Seniors Trevor Adams also advanced in Shot Put and Discus and Skylar Corfield in Pole Vault. Sophomores Ben Wright in the 100-200 Hurdles and Carson Gilarno in the 400.
“I was very excited and proud that I made it this far for Pole Vault. I feel that the guys team worked very hard this year. The girls team on the other hand slacked a little bit, but overall did a pretty good job,”Corfield said.
Four boys also made it in the 4×400: Nych Baker, Gilarno, Ben Wright and Boyd. All of these athletes qualify to compete at the WPIAL Championships.
As you can see from all the names mentioned, many of the track team players are underclassmen, and there are actually very few seniors, three boys and three girls to be exact. In some sports seniors make a huge impact on the team and the loss of them is quite impactful. But, as the seniors in the track team do make a huge impact, and their loss is great, the amount of underclassmen can hold their weight. Also, in a coaches perspective, the loss isn’t as numbered as it maybe was in past years.
“A highlight was having such a young team and having three senior boys and girls, this was a good thing, I look forward to having more young people, and having less graduating,” Coach Mr. Ed Shephard said.
The team has accomplished some closely matched victories during this season, one the their most suspended being their success over Beaver for the section championship. They won by a very tight margin of 98-92. They conquered Beaver, because a jumper from their team was late to the pit and was disqualified, giving Freedom the very close win. Through the hard work of the entire team, Freedom was able to take this victory and be given the title of section champions. Even though some didn’t place, a big part in being apart of the track team, or a part of any team is supporting each other.
“This victory really shows what students as a team can accomplish when they come together and work hard, even though I was only a pole vaulter and I wasn’t very involved with the team as a whole, it was easy to tell that freedom track was like one big family,” Sophomore Ian Moran said.
The WPIAL individual Championships will be at Baldwin on May 19. The top five from the spiral will go to states, where they will compete against other hard working individuals around the state for their title.