by Mya Sanghvi (‘28)
As the spring sports seasons quickly approach SBHS, the track and field season has begun organizing the team. The track team has just finished their winter season and now are approaching their spring season. The boys’ and girls' teams had a memorable season last year.
Assistant Track Coach Ms. Stephanie Greco said, “Last year the boys and girls team won the Red Division Championships, GMC Relays, and GMC Championships. The boys then also won the Central Jersey Group IV Championships.”
The team’s goal is to hold onto these titles while also gaining the Girls Central Jersey Group IV Championship, where athletes from central Jersey come together to compete at different track events to see who is the best.
While the team is constantly changing, one thing that remains the same is that they are constantly working on important sportsmanship skills. Long hours spent together have led to the building of strong friendship and memories.
Practices are organized by coaches from Mondays to Saturdays. Each coach takes on a different specialty and focuses on those students. Their role is to challenge and help students become better athletes.
Ms. Greco said, “I started track myself when I was in middle school in 7th grade and continued through college. So I have been within the track world for 22 years.”
Not all warm-ups look the same for each athlete. In bigger invitational meets that contain multiple schools, only a few athletes from each school are selected to attend.
Track actually consists of multiple different sub-sports, including distance, hurdles, shot put, and javelin. Different sub-sports are played depending on the season. For example, discus is only for spring track and not winter track. Another difference between the different seasons is that the track size and environment are different. The winter track is placed inside with a smaller track compared to the spring track, which is outside with a 400 meter track.
The track team is a varsity and cut sport. The expectation for students increases because of the dedication and determination of each person and their influence on the team. However, the team has set precautions to help prevent injury. When an athlete is injured, different measures are set.
Ms. Greco said, “When an athlete gets injured, we will check how severe the injury is, they determine if they can't do anything or if they can do some then they will modify the practice to their needs.“You can learn that one bad mark doesn't define your meet and how well you did."
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