Elaina Wang

Despite freezing cold temperatures, freshmen Ashley Yan, Milly Tran and Jaime Baker warm up for track practice. “It’s really important to give it your all [when you’re] practicing,” Yan said. “It can determine how you perform at a meet.”

On Dec. 6, Jefferson girl’s indoor track made their first appearance at both the David Cannon Invitational and Thomas Jefferson (TJ) Middle School Track Meets, garnering a fourth overall record going into the rest of the season.

The David Cannon Invitational was held in the morning and primarily held for experienced runners. Meanwhile, the TJ Middle Track Meet took place in the afternoon and was curated for new runners, helping to ease freshman and sophomores into the competitive atmosphere.

“The performances went really well,” track coach Todd Withington said. “We had all of our 4×2 relays at the David Cannon Invitational place. The [athletes] won their heats, [and] all the athletes performed well. [In addition], the meet at TJ Middle school went really well, [especially since those were] new people to the track team.”

Even with Jefferson’s great performances, athletes still have a lot to say about their achievements.

“[I think I could] definitely go out more aggressively instead of being timid at the start,” freshman and long distance runner Moira Hartley said. “I placed second in the 500m, fourth in the 4×2 and won the 4×4. I liked the 4×2 because you get to run really fast, [and] I like the 500 because it’s definitely more of a strategic run.”

Especially as Jefferson students, many athletes have academic pressure and conflicting events on days of practice. However, part of being a good athlete is being able to overcome these challenges.

“I personally try to not put pressure on the athletes because I know that they already have their own pressure [that] they put on themselves going on,” Withington said. “I try to be as light as I can in regards to [being] easy minded, so to speak. [Personally, it’s] important [to be] fair, [but for the athletes,] they have to be disciplined, [and] continue to do well in academics and [sports].”

Jefferson’s athletes set goals before and after every meet in order to visualize and make plans for the future.

“I have a lot of running specific goals,” Hartley said. “[For example], I want to break 90 [seconds] at the next track meet for the 500 meter dash. It’s just really important to set goals so you can always keep moving forward.”