In the approaching season, Spring Track and Field is quickly gaining interest from the students of Colonia High School. The sport is tough, yet extremely rewarding to its athletes, led by the team’s head coach, Michael Quick.
What is Track and What do you Need to Participate
Containing over 7.1 million athletes, Track is a sport containing competitions based on an athlete’s running, jumping or throwing abilities. Running events, like the 100 and 200-meter sprint, tests the athlete’s speed, whereas, events such as 1600 or 3200, tests a runner’s endurance. The running competitions are Quick’s specialty. With these running events, are many competitions doing with jumping, triple or high jump, throwing, shot put, or javelin.
To be on the Track team you must have certain equipment. Fortunately, it is not as demanding as some other sports. For track all you need is a pair of sneakers and running gear. It is highly recommended, however, that you also invest in spikes. Spikes are a light weight type of sneaker that have small spikes on the bottom for better traction on the track. Spikes are known for decreasing the time of sprinters on their races and helping jumpers jump further distances as well. Although they help with sprinting, they can cause strain in your legs and should never be a substitute for hard work and practice.
Life on the Track from the Head Coach
Track onlookers, as well as parents and friends, are expecting a lot from our Colonia athletes this year. They’re planning to achieve these expectations through a tough work ethic and a lot of determination. “I have a lot of faith in our team for this upcoming season. We have some unfinished business from last year, so the added pressure of moving up into the White Division should be incentive for the girls to train harder and achieve better results. I expect to be competitive at every meet and push each other to achieve success,” Quick said when asked what we could expect from this season.
Quick also stated how important a hard work ethic can be and how it can impact your success as well saying, “I believe that while it is important to have talent, I think that is equally or even more important for an athlete to have a hard work ethic. There are few athletes in this world that can obtain success without trying hard every day, which is shown by how hard Olympic athletes train. A complete dedication to their craft and a sense of achievement is vital for student athletes to succeed.”
Although Quick has high expectations for all of his runners, two of them have received a lot of attention lately. These runners are returning juniors: Mary Ilelaboye and Shelby Piccinic. Ilelaboye and Piccinic are expected to have many eyes on them. Track runners since their freshman year, Ilelaboye and Piccinic have repeatedly shown their dedication and determination to their sport. This year, Piccinic will be attempting to defend her 3200 GMC title, a CHS girl’s record as of now.
