With a loud bang, athletes leap out of the blocks at the starting gun, racing furiously to finish first. Ten running events and seven field events will be held for boys and girls at the Lewistown track on April 4, in which 44 of our Park High students will compete.
This being their second track meet of the season, the athletes are excited to hopefully improve in their events.
Junior Jaxson White, who will compete in the 200, Javelin, High Jump, and Shot Put, was pleasantly surprised when he did very well in the 200 meter dash at the Laurel Opener meet,. White was able to get first place with a time of 25.56 seconds, and it was his first time running the race, no less. White is usually a thrower, competing in Shot Put and Javelin, but did quite well when he competed in the 200. He predicts that he should be able to improve that time on Thursday.
Senior Veronica Glenn prepares herself to compete in Triple Jump, Long Jump, the 100 Meter dash, and both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Glenn expresses her hope of doing better in each of her events, and is excited to see how the team will do. She explains “with more kids able to go and compete, the team has a better chance at placing.”
Senior Cole Bartz is excited to compete in Shot Put, his favorite event, in which he predicts he’ll get top five at the meet. Bartz is also running the 4×100 relay, the 100 meter dash, and participating in High Jump. He, too, predicts the team will do well, seeing as the boys got 3rd place last meet.
Competing in 300 Hurdles, Long Jump, and Triple Jump is Senior William Tyner. Tyner is optimistic about his times and lengths, and is hoping to get close to placing.
And competing in her second high school track meet ever is junior Molly Arterburn. She plans on doing Triple Jump, Long Jump, 800m, 400m, and the 4×400 relay. Arterburn explains how fun her first meet was, and said “now that I’ve got my events figured out, and first meet jitters behind me, I’m hoping to PR and maybe place.”
Head coach Joey Lane explains that since many girls are unable to compete, the Park High girls team will be at a disadvantage, but she has faith in the girl athletes attending. “The boys have a lot of promise, with Finn [Schretenthaler] being a strong competitor in all his races, but we’ve also had some pleasant surprises, like Ryan Miller in the High Jump,” says Lane. She also expressed faith in both Jon Durgan and Tristan Watts in Long Jump, as well as the Pole Vault boys. There are some very promising relay teams, and Lane is confident Park High can fetch some points at Lewistown.