On Saturday, March 22 the first varsity track meet took place at 10 AM, kicking the season off on a positive note. The track meet was a relay meet, meaning every running event was a relay. This is unlike a normal track meet where there are only two to five relays out of around twenty running events.
With the meet being primarily a relay one, the usual pressure of the first varsity race was lowered considerably.
“Yeah it was a lot more fun because it was a relay meet, so you just got to run with your friends the whole time,” Mirabelle Go (9) said.
While the team was able to have fun, they also did extremely well for their first meet. Highlands finished the race in third place, beating out seven other teams in a surprising turn of events.
“We did really good, I didn’t think we would get third so I was pleasantly surprised. I think it was that depth of having a bunch of different people in a bunch of different events that let us do so well,” Highlands girls head coach Savannah Brady said.
The team was able to pull out some impressive times, especially for the first meet of the season.
Sophie Taylor (10) was the top scoring runner of the day, competing in three events and placing in all of them. These events included the 1600 relay, four by 800 relay, and the distance medley relay.
“To practice, we ran an easy two miles to work on the way up to the meet along with stretching, this stops us from getting injured. I used these strategies before the meet as well and I think that really helped me out,” Taylor said.
The team’s goal this season is to help as many people as possible make it to the state competition in the spring. They kicked off their season with an impressive meet but to advance their strengths, Brady will continue to increase the level of difficulty of each practice.
