Cross Country is officially over, and with its end comes the beginning of Track season. Track and Field involves seventeen different events total, each with their own rules, tactics, and kids. For this article, we will be focusing on the distance portion of Track, which includes eight events total. You can expect that most Cross Country athletes would be, or should be, joining these longer distance events. Head coach of the Cross Country team and coach of the pole vaulters in Track, Mr. Bernard states, “We were really good in Cross this year and our distance kids should do really well.”
Mr. Bernard even goes so far as to single out two of these Cross Country athletes, “Our top girl is Sophie Benham, and our top boy is Alessandro Pimentel,” saying that they have genuine chances to go to masters and make it on the podium. When asked who he thought has the greatest chance to shine in Track season, Mr. Bernard turned to Hughson’s returning Varsity athletes from Cross stating, “The distance group should be one of the main point-scoring engines for the track team.”
One of these Cross Country athletes, Carter Christian, will not be joining Track and Field. His motivation to join Cross may be a bit unordinary, as he revealed he joined because, “My friends were doing it; I had nothing better to do, so I joined.” When questioned about not joining Track and why he did Cross instead of Track, he said, “Every time I run hard, my knee will start to hurt, and eventually it will get to the point where I can barely walk.” He reported that he would have joined Track if he could have. Instead of doing nothing however, he chose to still stay active and fit by joining Golf, a sport less strenuous on the knees, yet still requiring advanced technique, knowledge, and capability.
Our supposed “top boy” Alessandro Pimentel, also has thoughts to share on the Track season. He shared that the reason he even got into running was because he “… wanted to lose weight… I hated how I looked, and I wanted others to see what I’m capable of.” Junior year was supposedly his “breakthrough”, where he “trained while being sick and learned to focus on the little things.” His Senior year hasn’t gone quite as smooth though, “Senior year currently has some setbacks, but I’m finding what I can do even with these setbacks,” explaining that he recently pulled his hamstring and physical therapy is not helping him. Despite all these setbacks and inconveniences, our coaches still believe in Alessandro Pimentel and hold him in high regards.
I currently am in, and have only ever been in, the distance side of Track and Field, so I can’t speak on how the rest of it works, but it is such a large sport that includes many different events. Coach Bernard explained that in Track, “Success as a team takes contributions from everyone.” Everybody really needs to give it their all across seventeen different events in order for the team to have a chance at winning. Coach Bernard said it best, “Track and Field is an unusual sport.”
