After many days of staying after school to work out, the indoor track team traveled to Edinboro University to compete in their last regular meet before qualifiers in an all-day event on Feb. 11. Team members gained experience, whether it was in a running, jumping or throwing event.
Before any competition occurred, the team created goals to work towards throughout the season. Each individual had their own, but they would challenge themselves along with others to finish the indoor season strong. Without these goals, many of the athletes wouldn’t have been able to push themselves to try and reach them.
“I had the ambitious expectations of running 4:50 in the one mile and 9:40 in the 3000 meter,” freshman Adam Hessler said.
There are a lot of different opportunities when it comes to indoor track. Since the meets are not outside, athletes can avoid the harsh winter weather, but still have the opportunity to compete.
Instead of running a 100-meter dash, it’s a 60-meter dash. The same change also applies to hurdle events. Also, the four by 100-meter relay is changed to the four by 200-meter relay. There’s also more competition than a regular outdoor track meet.
“My favorite memory from indoor track is just the ability to run against kids that I don’t normally get to run against over the normal season,” senior Jarrett Boyd said.
There were several placements over the course of the season. When competing against so many different athletes, it may be difficult to see improvement in oneself. By training themselves and continuing to train, the track team was able to show that they were serious about the outcome.
Senior Jarrett Boyd placed 3rd in the one mile and freshman Adam Hessler placed 16th. Boyd also placed 6th in the 800-meter and sophomore Ethan Paxton placed 32nd. Hessler placed 13th in the 3000-meter as well. Junior Ashley Wilfong placed 38th in the 60-meter and 44th in the 200-meter. Junior Brittany Freed placed 26th in the 800-meter. Freed also placed 22nd in the one mile and junior Paige Velemirovich placed 33rd. Junior Austin Schroeder placed 35th in the 400-meter. The boys four by 400-meter also received 13th with members Paxton, Leindecker, Boyd and Schroeder.
Junior Austin Schroeder placed 11th in triple jump. Junior Ryan Leindecker placed 14th in pole vault.
Haley Velemirovich placed 21st in shot put. Also, freshman Brandon Majors placed 23rd and Fernando Franco placed 27th in shot put.
“[The team has been] very successful. We made a lot of improvement during the indoor season, which will help for the outdoor season,” coach Ed Shephard explained.
Most people think that all the credit of a great athlete goes to that person. In reality, there are several people that impact that person’s athleticism and can make a difference with practice and motivation. A coach is one of those people. They can teach you many lessons, both good and bad, but they are able to do a lot for their athletes.
“[Shephard] has really focused on us individually, which helps us get the workouts we need to improve. He also pushes us at practices to exceed what we can do to try and make us better,” junior Austin Schroeder said.
Indoor track is not the end of the story for the members. They have another chance to once again represent FHS in the outdoor season. The team plans to continue to train and make more progress for the new season, which will be starting in the spring.