At the end of the school day, athletes laced up their sneakers, sported their athletic clothes, and prepared to run four laps around the field to warm up before practice on Monday, Jan. 31.

The track team conditioned the week prior to the start of their new season, which began the first week of February. The team allowed anyone to join and attend the conditioning and practices. However, there are a limited number of people who can attend meets. 

Practices consist of running laps to warm up. The team captains, digital senior Thomas Ashley, vocal senior Erin Swabek, and communications junior Reese Gallagher, then lead the team through a series of stretching exercises. Then, they do various workouts such as sprints, relays, laps, or exercises such as squats, burpees, and lunges. After stretching and workouts, the team splits up into groups between sprinters and distance runners. Coach Ross Vening then assigns the distance group a workout and did work with sprinters. At the end of practice, the team stretches again to avoid injuries. 

“I want the team to exceed a lot this year,” Ashley said. “We have more meets than in the last few years, so hopefully we can keep improving.” 

The team’s first meet is on Feb. 22 at St. Andrews and the season will end in late April.