The anticipation is building as West prepares to kick off its track and field season with the first meet scheduled for this Saturday at Jeffco in Denver where state is also hosted. Athletes and coaches are eagerly awaiting this event that will hopefully showcase the hard work and dedication of the schools’ talented runners, jumpers, and throwers.
The meet will feature many different events including sprints, long distance, hurdles, relays, and throwers participating in shot put and discus throw. With so many events, there is something for everyone to look forward to including players, coaches, and fans.
Head Coach Cody Billings is optimistic about the upcoming season and the teams’ potential. “It’s really fun to watch them perform, and it’s really exciting to see all the work they put in for practice pay off during their competition,” Billings said. This track team is pretty young but they also have a few veterans that are coming back to lead that he is excited for. The team has a tough league moving up to 5A having to compete against teams like Windsor and Skyline.
The senior captains have high expectations for this season. “I expect a lot of varsity returners to have better PRs and have a lot more improvement than we did last year as well as our newcomers to do well,” said senior captain and runner Cortez Oblekson. “We are nervous but we are all excited to be there for each other and excited to see how each of us do and see how hard people work during practice to see their PRs,” said senior captain hurdler Kaitlyn Fenton.
Billings says right before a meet if his athletes are nervous, he tries to slow them down and explain what the race plan is, what expectations are since they sometimes overwork themselves before a race. He also likes to check in after the event to see how they think they did or what they think they could have done better.
The track also likes to celebrate each other’s successes especially when somebody gets a personal record. Senior thrower Miles Segura says he celebrates others successes by “being supportive, being there watching them, and screaming and yelling.” Kaitlyn Fenton mentions that this year they are doing a PR board, so they will take a picture with this board that says “I just PRed”, but also setting goals as a team so hopefully can celebrate each other that way.
