Indoor track is a way for students to prepare for the outdoor track season while also competing against other schools. Both outdoor track and spring sports athletes compete during the indoor track season to get into shape for their main season. This year there is a new head track coach for the boys, Tyler Woolard, who is trying to change the pace for both the boys and girls teams, along with the girls head coach, Elaina Armata.

The goal for the boys track team this season is to grow numbers for all events, ranging from distance to field. It’s also been very important to both boys and girls teams to push both teams together so they are almost one team, similar to cross country where the boys and girls teams practice together.
“Our number one goal is to get our numbers up. I would love to see the program grow, and that’s going to happen during the indoor season and lead through to the outdoor season. So definitely growing the team, growing the program and intermingling with the girls program kind of making a full thing and making a program to reckon with rather than roll over,” said Tyler Woolard.

The indoor track season is a way for people to get physically ready for their outdoor season. There are training differences from distance running to field events when it comes to what they do every day for training. Both Armata and Woolard along with assistant coaches have different ways they prepare the athletes that do different events.
“We’ll set a foundation for the endurance of the boys. We have some top-speed workouts. So the biggest difference from indoor to outdoor is just a few of the races. An indoor track is 200 meters versus an outdoor 400 meters,” Woolard said.

As the indoor season leads into the outdoor season, there are different intensities when it comes to practices and meets. One of the most important meets that took place during this season was Conference at Lakes Community High School on March 11. At the co-ed meet, the girls were expected to battle against Grant to get the higher spot. In the end, they were able to get third place and beat Grant out for the spot when they gained points in the 4×4. The boys also had success by getting second place.
As the indoor season comes to a close after the two meets on March 18 and 19, the girls and boys are given spring break off from practices and meets so they can recover and take a mental health week. This week off will be time for them to still run but have time to prepare emotionally for the outdoor season so they can keep improving.
“I’m going to be doing 300 hurdles, 4×8, and probably 4×4. I’m just taking it day by day and doing the workouts my coaches give us, stretch a lot, and do more hurdle work,” said junior Kamila Chwieros.

After the indoor conference success, the team is setting new goals for themselves and are preparing for them every day during practice. Even though both teams have different events they all compete in, they all have the goal to keep improving and try to score more points at meets. One of the captains, Nicole Brown, sees the progress they have made during the indoor season and is trying to use that progress to benefit the outdoor season.
“I run the 4×8, 3200, 1600, 800, 4×4, any of those. I feel pretty good about the upcoming season and I feel that our team is going to do really well,” said junior Nicole Brown.