Track 2021
May 14, 2021
In 2020, the track season was cancelled due to COVID-19. This year, track is back, and the Seahawks are running fast and throwing and jumping far. The break last year means that the athletes have to work extra hard to learn the techniques, and get in shape for the season. The coaches also have to put in extra effort because there are only two coaches to teach 17 completely different events.
Luckily, COVID-19 hasn’t affected the track season too much. Masks are required while the team is practicing inside, but most of their time is spent outdoors where they don’t need to mask up. At meets, runners, jumpers and throwers are not required to wear masks while competing or warming up.
On April 24th, the Seahawks headed to Homer for their first meet of the season. It was a big meet with several 4A teams, but the Seahawks still did well. Junior Tommy Cronin placed 6th in the long jump. Senior Trey Ingalls got 1st in the 110 hurdles and 2nd in the 300m hurdles. On the girls side, Freshman Robin Cronin placed 8th in the long jump. Junior Lydia Jacoby got 6th in the 100, and Junior Shelby Sieminski earned 4th in the 800m.
Seward hosted their home meet on April 27th. It was a small meet. Seward raced ACS and Birchwood Christian.
On May 1st, the Seahawks went to SOHI for another race. There were a lot of improvements and fast times.
Last weekend, the Seahawks traveled to Palmer for their first two-day event of the year. This was a little preview of what Regions and State will look like in a few weeks. Prelims are on day one. There are multiple heats of the same event, and the top eight times or distances make finals, which are on day two. Prelims times don’t matter on day two, only the place in finals. First place earns ten points; second place gets eight; down to sixth place, which gets one point. The team with the most points wins. At the Palmer meet, the girls team placed 7th and the boys 8th.
At track meets, there is a lot of down time between events. Because of this, the team becomes very close throughout the season. Senior Levi DeBoard, who is doing track for his first year, said, “I decided to do track because all my friends were doing it.” Senior Sam Paperman said his favorite track memory was ”spending quality time with my friends.”
Seward is now preparing for championship meets. They head to Boroughs this weekend. Those who qualify will go to Regions, and the top runners from Regions will qualify for State.
