Girls Track

After losing a core group of seniors along with the chance to compete in the 2020 season, the girls track team still looks to build off of high aspirations from the previous year as the Lady Cards sprint into the upcoming season. 

“The girls track team was positioned in 2020 to experience a high level of success with a group of seniors and underclassmen,” girls track head coach Nathan Fishel said.

As the 2021 track season is coming to a start, it will be a brand new experience for this year’s group of underclassmen, who haven’t had a chance to run in a track meet yet. 

Typically, the freshman class is the only group with no experience in a high school competition setting. Instead, there are two classes this year that have never ran in a track meet before.

Although the Lady Cards expect their season to be shorter than it usually is due to COVID-19, they are still looking forward to what’s ahead, especially since they missed out on their entire indoor season as well, during February and March.

“I anticipate that this season is going to be a learning experience for a lot of runners,” senior Micah Ellyson said. “Many 

underclassmen have not raced at the high school level, so they are going to have to adjust to competing at a high level.”

The girls track team always hopes to find themselves in the state finals in June, and that desire has not wavered this year despite COVID-19 challenges. Along with the overall team goals, some players, like junior Taleah Nool, have their eyes set on their own accomplishments outside of making it to state. 

“I want to get faster and be able to clear eight feet in pole vaulting,” Nool said.

Fishel believes a large part of the 2021 season will be gaining experience and working with athletes to help them develop 

throughout the season.

“Unfortunately, the seniors did not get to have a senior track season and underclassmen did not gain the experience of high school track through competing and being around seniors who had highly achieved for a couple years,” girls track head coach Nathan Fishel said. 

This year, the girls track team will try and grow personally and athletically to have the best season they could possibly have.

Boys Track

This offseason, the boys track team has trained differently than in years past because of the loss of their indoor season. Their workouts have provided them with a chance to take more precautions in hopes that they will avoid injuries in their shortened season.

“We have also increased the intensity of training at a more gradual pace than in previous seasons due to the fact we had no indoor meets this year,” boys track head coach Andrew Geller said. “That allowed us the flexibility to slow down during our indoor training.”

Much like the girls track team, the boys team also has seniors who need to step up as an example for the underclassmen, since they still have not been able to compete in a high school meet.

“Since we’re all seniors, we need to lead by example and also race well so the team does well throughout the season,” senior Nick Frank said.

This offseason, rain or shine, the team has worked hard in order to compete to the best of their abilities by their first meet against Greenfield Central and Beech Grove on April 6. 

Throughout the boys track team, all athletes have their own aspirations for the season, each having their own accomplishments that they would like to reach by the end of the season. Some of the specific goals for athletes are reaching a new personal record in their event. 

“I would like to finish the season qualifying for state with the 4×400 team…,” junior Nolan Hall said, “also with a PR in the 400 with 50 seconds or below.”

According to Geller, because of the missed season last year, the players are ready to be competitive and be ready for the season to start.