Track Toughs up College Teams at Harvard
With Exeter’s own indoor track undergoing construction, the Big Red track team traveled to Harvard University to race around the banked Gordon Indoor Track last Sunday. The team left campus at around seven in the morning and didn’t return to campus until seven at night. The full day event, hosted by the Greater Boston Track Club (GBTC), was packed with competitive racing and resulted in a successful meet for the Exeter team.
“It’s always nice to run against college teams, especially since a lot of us, myself included, hope to run in college one day."
At the GBTC meet, the team not only competed against other high school athletes, but also several colleges and track clubs. Exeter competed in some events with Andover and St. Paul’s; however, there wasn’t much intersection between schools throughout the day’s events.
When talking about the competitiveness of this meet, Upper Raj Das saw the older competition as an advantage. “It’s always nice to run against college teams, especially since a lot of us, myself included, hope to run in college one day. It was really fun to run heats with athletes from Brandeis or Northeastern, and also against running clubs,” he said.
Despite competing against talented, older athletes, Das said, “I always like to say that the clock is our biggest competitor and that we should always seek to improve on our own times, regardless of the competition.” His positive attitude helped him place in the top half of competitors in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. He praises his teammates for their stellar performances at the meet: “I was really inspired by some amazing performances from Ogechi Nwankwoala, Hannah Brown, and Marymegan [Wright] on the 60-meter hurdles, from Matt [Wabunoha] in the 400-meter dash and from Greg Zhu, Calvin Henaku, and Miles Mikofsky on some longer races in the 800 meter and 1000 meter.”
Big Red athletes broke personal and school records. Prep Marymegan Wright finished fourth overall in the 60-meter hurdles. Her times propelled her above college and track club athletes, running a phenomenal time of 10.08 seconds. Her time also earned her a new prep record for the event, beating out lower Helen Xiu’s time by .55 seconds.
Upper Maggie Hock excelled in the 600-meter event. Her 1:35.67 time secured her a first-place finish over a Brandeis University runner by 1.45 seconds.
Although track is primarily an individual sport, the Exeter team is very close and prides themselves on camaraderie. Lower Matt Wabunoha says, “[The] best part of the meet was cheering on my teammates, especially those in distance events. Those races are mentally grueling so having people cheer you on, I imagine, helps boost their morale.”
Going forward in their season, the team is looking forward to the grand opening of the new indoor track, known by the athletes as “The Palace.” While under construction, the team practiced on the basketball courts and gym hallways.
A few years in the making, the indoor facility opened up to the track athletes late last week for practices. “Going from a gym to an actual track is going to allow us to make our running workouts more targeted. Jumpers and throwers will be able to practice in an ideal setting, and people can finally see us compete in the winter,” Wabunoha exclaims. “It’s a blessing I hope many won’t take for granted.”
“[The new track] will finally give us a place where we can defend our house,” says lower David Kim. Come watch the Exeter boys’ and girls’ teams “defend their house” on Saturday with their first home meet beginning at noon in “the Palace”.