After missing their 2020 season, the track and field team is back with more to offer. Recently, the girls team has set multiple new school records. 

Two relays have broken school records. The girls 4 x 800-meter relay, consisting of Annika Elliott, Louisa Fowler, Bella Lozier and Marcella Yatso, broke the 2019 record. The girls 4 x 400-meter relay, including Annika Elliott, Bella Lozier, Delea Martins and Fiona Skwierawski, broke a school record from 1990 during the first race of the season, and then beat that new record later in the season, running 3:58:85, a time seven seconds faster than any other school in the division so far this year. 

“We’ve actually got some big goals this year, because our coach is hoping for our 4 x 800 relay team to do really well at state. He hopes we can win state. I don’t know about that, but it’d be really exciting,” Fowler said.

Delea Martins, sophomore, has also made individual records in the 200 and 400-meter dash. This accomplishment will fuel future success for Martins through the state meet in late June.

“We have huge success coming in our future at state, so I’m looking forward to just being a part of the high school team,” Martins said.

Martin is currently a top-two seed in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dash in division II. As participants are limited to three events at state, Martins will no longer be competing in the record breaking 4 x 400-meter dash. While this is disappointing, Martins hopes to gain as many points as possible for the team.

“I’m going to do the 100-, 200- and 400-[meter dash], and we’re setting that up just so we can have the most possible points for our team at state,” Martins said.

The girls team hopes to win the state meet, and the boys team looks to qualify select individuals including top-seeded Nathan Cumberbatch in the 800-meter run and Sajen Hardwrath currently ranked at fifth place in high jump. They believe in their talent and preparation for the rest of the season.

“For girls, our goal this year is to win state, because we have the talent to do so, and I think we have a good shot at that,” Elliott said.

Head sprints coach, Eric Mathews, is proud of the work the team has done so far but still hopes for more progress.

“We’re at the halfway point of our season and we’re at the halfway point of our goals as well. We have some work left to do to get where we want to be,” Mathews said.

An exciting change to the season is new uniforms for both the boys and girls team. This year the two teams have the same uniform, a change that is meant to symbolize the unifying of the teams. The two teams also practice together. 

“One of the things that we’re trying to do this year is make the girls track team and the boys track team more cohesive, so we got the same uniform design for everybody,” Mathews said.

The team has had various opportunities to become closer throughout the season so far. For distance runners, it is fun to interact with those who specialize in shorter distances.

“It’s just super fun to be on a team with boys and girls, distance people, sprint people, jumping people, it’s just [a] super fun, exciting, diverse environment to be in,” Elliott said.