by Adam Colbert
Everybody on the track team has a personal goal. Whether it is to break a school record, break a personal record or stay in shape, everyb
ody has one. Their goals are their motivation.
Seven-year track coach Spencer Fortwengler says breaking a school record is a bragging right. Every runner’s dream is to get on the track record board that hangs in the cafeteria. “These athletes need something to work towards, and that board is motivation for them.”
Junior Kaylee Cummings and others are pursuing their personal goals: to beat the school record…again. Cummings is running after an 800 meter in less than two minutes and fifteen seconds, which will top her personal best of two minutes and twenty seconds, the current school record. Cummings has been running hard every spring since eighth grade to keep in shape for basketball and soccer. Every day Cummings practices a mile warm-up, repeat 100 and 400 meters and then a three-mile run.
Junior Nicole Mooar is ready to jump past the school record of 15.6 seconds for high hurdles (100 meters) and 68.6 seconds for low hurdles (400 meters). Both school records are held by Mooar, but she is still looking to improve. Mooar’s goal is like Monopoly. She already holds a record just like Monopoly players own a house. But she is looking to upgrade to a hotel. Currently, Mooar runs a 15.8 high hurdles and a 68.6 low hurdles.
Junior Alison Tobin has more than one personal goal including a 12.2-second 100 meter, an 8’6” pole vault jump, a 16’5” long jump, and a 62-second 400 meter. The 12.2-second 100 meter time would be a school record, and she is only .2 seconds away from a record. Her current best for the pole vault jump is a 7’6”, and a 9 foot jump is the current record. Tobin has these goals, so she “can personally improve and get better every day.” Her practice routine includes a mile warm-up, repeat 100 and 400 meters, and then she practices her field events.
Tobin realized she was fast when she competed as a gymnast. “When we would condition to build up cardio and endurance, we would run sprints outside at practice, and I would beat my teammates.”
But not all students are after school records. Freshman David Youngerman wants to run a 400 meter race in under a minute and an 800 meter race under two minutes and fifteen seconds. He plans on getting there by practicing hard and eating right.
“You don’t want to be eating junk food for the season,” he says. By practicing hard, he means running his hardest every single time.
A lot of students run track to stay in shape for a sport, but then they discover their talent like Kaylee Cummings did.
Senior captain Lauren Priess first joined outdoor track four years ago to stay fit for soccer. “I ended up loving it, so I kept it up.”
Freshman Avery Conyers took on track because it was something to do to help him improve for baseball. Conyers is a sprinter, and he is attempting to beat his personal best of 6.6 seconds on the 55 meter dash. Getting better at sprinting will help Conyers steal bases in baseball.
Track is a game of goals, and runners like Cummings, Tobin, Mooar, Priess, Youngerman and Conyers all work hard for those goals.
