The sun shone down onto the necks of the track athletes. They had practiced all year for this meet. The State Track Meet of 2018 was an honor and exciting time for Sydney Holster, Anna Gold, Aleah Constantine, Landri Sagebiel, Cristian Hernandez, Joshua Wienecke, JT Watson, and Graham Hammond.

Setting certain goals for each athlete and achieving them that season was an important memory for most of the track athletes as they set forth on their journey to try to make it to the state meet again this year. Making it to state was exciting for Anna Gold, knowing all of her hard work and late practices were going to pay off in the long run.

“Last year I didn’t know what to expect going into it [track], but I had goals for myself of what I wanted to do,” Gold said. “I knew if I worked hard enough in practice and did everything Coach Aldrich talked to me about I knew I had a chance to go to state.”  

All girls’ and boys’ bodies are different so the training for state had to be for that person. They all needed different things to work on depending on where their body was at in this point of the season. 

 “We had to go through extensive training before the meet,” Holster said. “We’d have a hard individual workout each day.”

Going up against the best in the state is nerve-racking especially being a high school student. Staying calm and remembering to go out and do your very best is an important component in the sport.

 “Stress and nerves are something you have to learn to cope with in track,” Constantine said. “For me, it’s keeping a good mindset and trying to focus and relax.”

Perseverance is a necessity in the sport of track. Pain and loss is a price athletes must pay in order to reap the rewards of winning.

“Besides the pain, there is a sense of accomplishment,” Watson said, “especially if your team does well.”

Getting to beat some of the school’s top competitors is a big achievement, especially putting in all the hours and hard work. Before running, competitors talk to the other racers and wish them good luck. Win or lose athletes make lifelong friends.

“My favorite part about each meet is the part where I beat runners from other schools who think they are better than our school,” Hernandez said. “the fact that it is easy to bond with other runners right before a race”.

Athletes know they can’t always take home first place but pushing and trying the hardest is all that matters. No one wants to lose, and that is just a part of being an athlete.

“Sometimes I perform better than I think I would,” Sagebiel said. “But sometimes I don’t do as good as I hoped I would.”

Qualifying for important meets is a big deal, especially for such young high school students. With that being said, some meets are very difficult and strenuous. 

 “It’s really hard to qualify so I felt accomplished,” Hammond said.

These athletes, along with their teammates, have two more practice meets before the District meet April 3-4 held in Canyon Lake.