The track and field team had quite a successful season in 2019 with hopes to go further in 2020, but ultimately that was not the case due to COVID-19. In its 2019 season, the team broke the school record in both the boys and girls 4-by-400 relays as well as sending twelve members to the state meet. Nevertheless, the team has lost many members since then but is looking forward to its returning and new members producing for this year’s season. 

“We have a very young team and you can never tell what kind of talent we have until we start to compete,” head coach Todd Steverson said when asked about season predictions. “We lost a lot of seniors during the COVID year and missed the training and coaching with the current sophomore class, so I don’t have enough coaching time with this group of kids.”

Although it will be a young team this season, the squad does have some notable returning members. 

“For our sprint group [senior] David Whitaker should be a key returner.  The distance core has several, [junior] Sam Yeager, [senior] Jonah Cumings, and [senior] Kyle James-Heer. The field events have [senior] Abby McAlindon as a strong contender for all-conference in the pole vault,” Steverson said.

Abby McAlindon is excited for her final year on the team. When asked about her goals for this season, she had some pretty lofty expectations.

“This season I’m looking to break some PR’s [personal records] in both the events I run on the track. In my pole vaulting, I want to be sure to put it all out there at every event.”

Senior Dallas Hopson has also set some goals for this upcoming season.

“I hope to significantly improve in the high hurdles and low hurdles for my times to go down in each and ultimately lead this team to get good times in everything.”

Along with the returning members, the team also has a few new freshmen to watch out for on the team.

“This year, Brooke Bowers is a freshman and will definitely be breaking some records for FHC girls pole vault, which will be awesome to watch,” said Abby.

Freshman Clara James-Heer also had an exceptional season on the cross-country team and will be a great addition this season.

Covid-19 will also have an impact on this season as well. 

“We have a large group of kids.  No other team except maybe crew has as much or more so we have to be very careful about the number of kids in one place at the same time,” said coach Steverson when asked about how things will be different. “Things like training in the weight room is going to be very tricky this year. Co-mingling with other teams and friends before and during the meets is no longer allowed.”

Seniors Abby and Dallas were also asked what they are looking forward to this season after not having one last year. 

“I’m really looking forward to just getting back into the swing of meets,” Abby said. “This year feels special because everyone on the team is super motivated to have a great season and break a lot of PR’s especially since a lot of us haven’t been able to compete since we were underclassmen ourselves.”

“It’s my last year of track and I have been working hard to get to this point. I feel stronger, taller, and I feel like my times are going to go significantly down in every event I do and it’s just going to be a great time,” said Dallas. “I hope to mentor everybody and push everybody to the farthest they can go so we can win the state championship.”

“Like every other team, we just need to be very careful and deliberate in everything we do while giving each other full support,” said Steverson. “Hard work, training, and the rest will take care of itself.”