Photo courtesy Beka Eado

Senior Sreeanish Yarra attempts the high jump at MCPS Meet #3.

After an intense preseason, winter track athletes were fully prepared for their first meet of the season. The event took place at the Bulldogs’ home track at Churchill on Dec. 5.

Going into the season, team members had to prepare themselves with intent to get back to their strongest form after a long off-season. At the beginning of the season, workouts focus on conditioning and full-body strength training to build a solid baseline for speed. To be prepared for your season, “You have to be in peak shape, conditioned for sprinting and endurance,” senior Ahmed Elsamani said.

Elsamani plans on competing in the 55-meter, 300-meter and triple jump events. Succeeding in these events takes an impressive amount of athleticism. “I think I have good power and speed transition,” Elsamani said.

Although the track workouts are the only part that outsiders see, strength training is a large component of winter track training. “We go lift in the gym in order to become stronger and more explosive. Some ways to get faster are to either be more efficient with your form or to produce more force into the ground,” sophomore Kai Schmelzer said.

When competing at practice, players often think about how they are going to shave time at their next track meet, or how they may add height to their next jumping event. However, this is not the case for all athletes. “I don’t plan on competing. I plan on just practicing with the team in order to get faster for my primary sport,” Schmelzer said.

The team aspects of track can be overlooked because the majority of events at meets are individual. Outside the meets, this is not the case. “The workouts themselves involve teamwork as everyone is accountable for pushing those around them to do their absolute best,” Schmelzer said.

At practices, players don’t just benefit from an athletic perspective. Players grow as an individual through the time they spend dedicated to this sport. “Through the last four years [the head coach] has helped me grow as a person, walking me through every ‘life lesson’ and providing me with the best advice anyone could give,” senior RJ Cui said.

For new athletes, it can seem intimidating to start competing in winter track because of the more experienced athletes. Coach Momodou Drammeh succeeds at welcoming all different types of athletes onto the team. “The coach is very open and gives feedback to each runner. In addition, he is open to any possible questions to help each runner,” Schmelzer said.

Players find themselves socializing through winter track due to the large number of athletes who attend practices. “My favorite thing about track is getting to meet and know new people that I wouldn’t have been friends with any other way,” Schmelzer said.

Having a team surrounding and supporting each athlete has certainly helped the team get through any tough practices that test their limits. “Every aspect of practices from intensity to determination [involves the team]. It’s just always easier and more enjoyable when you have a group of people working as hard as you alongside you,” Elsamani said.