With the track season kicking off in March, track and field athletes quickly find their calendars are filled with after-school practices and track meets. Among these athletes are Fiona Thorne (9), Malaki Peoples (11) and Jack Cooper (12), who all share their way of preparation for track meets, and their involvement in the sport.
Freshman Fiona Thorne is a hurdler on Varsity Track and Field, and has been involved with the sport for five and a half years. Since sixth grade, Thorne ran for her middle school and outside of school for a club team, and now is participating in her first year at Southeast. To her, track isn’t just all about running and events.
“Track is way more mental than a lot of people think it is,” Thorne said. “I just have to worry about myself and the race itself, not other people.”
When preparing for track meets, Thorne says eating healthy and staying hydrated is a must. She tries to focus on herself and getting mentally and physically prepared rather than focusing on her competition and the meet ahead of her.
Thorne explains that getting good sleep and thinking through how she wants the meet to go helps her the most. On top of those strategies, Thorne also trains outside of school practices, on her own time.
Middle school track and high school track have been two extremely different experiences for Thorne. She considers high school track to be more professional and more difficult. Practices were also notably different, comparing the dirt and uneven ground she had to run on in middle school to the track that sprinters and hurdlers get to run on at LSE.
“I would just say it’s more professional, kind of consistent, and easier to work out,” Thorne said.
What she likes about track and field is after meets, when the team is together and having a good time. On the other hand, what she doesn’t like as much about the sport is the practices because it’s a lot of hard work, but she reports that it’s worth it. Thorne plans on continuing to participate and run for LSE in the coming years, and hopefully participate in college as well.
Junior Malaki Peoples is another Varsity athlete, who has done pole vaulting since his freshman year, meaning that this is his third year of being involved in track and field. He chose pole vault because he thought it looked fun and liked the feeling of falling onto the mat.
Pole vaulting, according to Peoples, is difficult at times despite being a lesser-known event. For him, getting a lot of practice and focusing on form helps with getting better at the sport. Although pole vaulting is Peoples’ main event, he also participates in long jump during the summer. To get prepared for these events during track meets, he tries to stay very hydrated and get good sleep.
Peoples’ favorite part about track and field is the bond that the athletes have with each other and how much fun they have together.
“I love the community, like I feel like everyone is just a big family and it’s just fun to be around people and meet new people,” Peoples said.
Peoples’ least favorite part about the sport is having to practice in bad weather. Although it takes lots of hard work and practice, he shares that he’d like to continue participating in track and field during his senior year and hopefully after graduation.
Senior Jack Cooper is a thrower on Varsity, and has been in track and field for three years, since his sophomore year. Throwing includes events such as shot put, discus, and javelin. He does shot put and attends every Varsity Track and Field meet. His way of preparing for meets involves more of just attending every practice and knowing the basics. The thing that helps him prepare the most is getting mentally prepared, and he aims to do that before any meet.
“We practice after school every day, and you get down the basics, and then you work up from there,” Cooper said.
Cooper enjoys being a thrower because he gets to hangout with his friends, but also gets to be competitive at the same time.
However, he doesn’t like when he doesn’t do well on certain occasions. Cooper plans to continue being involved in throwing and running on his own time, for fun, after graduation.
These three student athletes, like many others, continue to work hard and impressively balance school, practices and meets. They do well in their sport as well as in the classroom, and they continue to show their dedication and determination to perform well in all that they do.
