Track Starts Strong In Season Opener
On Saturday at 2:00 p.m., as sunshine warmed the turf and breezes cooled the air above, Big Red’s track team hosted its first outdoor meet at home. A perfect day to begin the season, the track was filled with Big Red runners and competitors from The Governor’s Academy and Worcester.
Governor’s had many pole vaulters and jumpers on top of their couple of strong sprinters and mid distance runners. What it lacked, Big Red possessed. Distance was Exeter’s strong suit, with their runners training year round on the cross country and winter track teams. According to upper Silas Lane, “They had a few strong sprinters and a mid distance guy but no long distance runners who could compete with Atticus and Garrett.”
Worcester, known as a small prep school, therefore lacked the much needed depth to excel in each and every event. Fortunately, Exeter was equipped with a team of 75 boys and 43 girls. Exeter’s size and depth contributed immensely to their win. “Our team pulled through with our depth and attitude and gave our best in every event,” lower Grace Gray said about the successes of the meet.
“We tend to view these early meets as an opportunity to throw runners into events they’re not used to running, so we rarely have a full strength lineup.”
The meet consisted of many first places for Big Red across a number of events. The boys had a strong start, setting the bar for the rest of the meet by winning the 4x100m, as well as sweeping the jumping events which included long jump, high jump and triple jump. Later on in the meet during the 1500m, seniors Jiro Mizuno and Issay Matsumoto came in first and second, getting numerous points for the team. In the same event on the girl’s side, senior Christine Hu dominated the competition, winning by so much that the people behind her looked like red dots on the track. Seniors Garrett Pitt and track co-captain Atticus Stonestrom furthered distance’s successes by easily securing first and second in the 3000m.
As this was the first meet of the season, the team saw it as a way to experiment with events and to see how far their training has brought them three weeks into the season.
“We tend to view these early meets as an opportunity to throw runners into events they’re not used to running, so we rarely have a full strength lineup,” Lane commented on the goals of the meet.
The team prepared for their win by mimicking the intense atmosphere during meets in their practices.
“Our team is based on leading from example as opposed to being super vocal,” senior Craig Celestin said. “We don’t talk as much as other teams, and we sort of just get things done.”
Looking forward into the season, the team will be looking to find their individual strengths as well as come together as a unit of 118 athletes. Even though track is essentially an individual sport, they want to grow closer and enforce a team atmosphere that encourages athletes to have good sportsmanship and team spirit.
“Everyone has their own personal goals over the course of the season, but as a team we’re just trying to continue running our hardest and supporting everyone else around us,” upper Julian Perez said.
The team’s next meet will be in two weeks at Deerfield, consisting of only relays. “We’ll be training hard to have another great meet there!” Gray said enthusiastically.