By Julia Abernathy
Staff Writer
The indoor track team is ready for their new season. With a team of about 57 people, the team is preparing for their upcoming meet on December 16th. They go on runs outside in the cold during most practices, which are everyday after school. Former assistant coach, Alonzo Ruffin, is now the head coach of the team. His son, AJ Ruffin, is the brand new assistant coach of the team.
Although the coaches are new this season, there haven’t been any significant changes made to the schedule or the way practice is run. Junior Grace Haber says, “It’s a little different just because we lost a lot of seniors and because there’s new coaches, but Coach Alonzo’s a great coach.” Grace is a returning member of the team and thinks that the new coaches have had a positive impact on the team.
The season is just getting underway, and things have been going well so far as Sophomore Jocelyn Server conveyed, “The season’s actually going pretty well, a lot of new people, but it’s a lot of fun.” Jocelyn is sprinting this year on the team. While the indoor track team doesn’t have nearly as many people on the team as the outdoor track team, the team still does have a decent amount of members.
Jocelyn says, “Practices are usually every single day and they’re from 3:15 to 4:15.” The team practices outside on the track, despite the often cold temperatures. The indoor track teams practices are only on school days, but some weekends the team competes against other schools in meets.
The team’s first meet took place on December 16th at Dickinson College. There was a slight change in the usual indoor track schedule due to the PG Sport Complex being closed until January. The team can’t have their meets there, which is their usual location, so they have to contact other schools and ask to have meets on their tracks.
The meets are one of the highlights of indoor track for many members of the team. When asked about her favorite thing about indoor track, Jocelyn said, “Going to meets and watching all the different people compete and race.” Meets are a great way for the members to meet people from other schools and learn about different events that they might not usually participate in.
Meets are also a good place to set personal goals based on the times you ran at the current meet, or at previous ones. “I would like to lower my times in the 800; I would like to be in the lower 2:30’s in the 800 and low 60’s in the 400.” Grace expresses her personal goal to lower her times in some of the events she runs. The personal goals that the members set for themselves inspire them to train hard during practice to achieve these goals.
Since the indoor track season is in the winter, it can get very cold. The team usually practices outside, but when it’s extremely cold or happens to be raining or snowing, practices are moved indoors. For these indoor practices, the team does workouts in the auxiliary gym or goes into Hammonds weight room to train.
Indoor track is a great way to learn new skills and develop ones previously acquired. “I learned new running form and the importance of your form and starting out.” Jocelyn says when asked what she learned from her time on the team.
Grace has also learned a lot from being on the team. “If you work hard, you can do a lot and improve.” Indoor track involves students in Hammonds athletic program and helps students achieve personal goals.
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