Photo by Momodou Drammeh

Sophomore Nathan Downie rounds the curve in the 1600-meter event on Jan. 27 at the Virginia Beach meet.

Although infiltrated with canceled meets, the indoor track season brought new personal records for athletes, memorable moments for the team, and growth in ways that can’t be measured by a stopwatch.

Indoor track, also known as winter track, has significantly fewer athletes who participate compared to spring track. For this reason, it can be less overwhelming for athletes to step up and lead a group of teammates. Athletes stepping up and developing their leadership skills has been a common theme of the season. “This season, as a senior I have become a leader and a captain, leading warmups and making sure everyone finishes their workouts. I started helping new people on the team with their technique and how to get faster,” senior Victor Poosuntisumpun said.

Throughout this season, in particular, athletes dealt with extreme weather conditions such as freezing temperatures and even heavy snowfall. Athletes who consistently went to practices in these conditions relied on mental toughness and perseverance. “The cold weather of this season has made me and the rest of the team more disciplined and mentally tough,” sophomore Nathan Downie said.

The 3A West regional championship took place at Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex on Saturday, Feb. 10. Sophomore Mia Coven competed in the 4×200 meter event with three other athletes. “My event is a sprint relay. In the sport of indoor track, there are only two sprint relays: the 4×400 and 4×200. Relays take a whole team effort. Everyone must contribute in order to be fast. The 4×200 is the shortest and fastest relay,” Coven said.

Coven plans on taking her abilities to spring track as well. “I will probably be competing in the 400 and 200 as well as the 4×200 and potentially the 4×400 and 4×100. My skill set is sprinting. I have the endurance to carry this sprint for distances longer than just a 100m dash,” Coven said.

Downie competed in the 1600-meter and 4×800-meter relay at regionals. “The 1600 is different from every other event because you need speed and endurance and you also need to have good tactics such as when to move up or sit in,” Downie said.

The drive behind different athletes’ dedication varies across the board. While an athlete may want to just improve their previous performances, others want to take it to the next level and dominate. Downie chooses the events he runs for those exact reasons. “I run the 1600 meter and 800 meter events because those are my strongest events and where I can get a medal,” he said.
Although winter and spring track may seem identical to an outsider they are quite different. Even after examining the two more closely, spring track may seem better simply because the weather is warmer. However, this is not always the preference for all athletes. “I prefer winter track because the conditions of the track meet are better. There are less external factors such as rain or wind in indoor track meets,” Poosuntisumpun said.

Regardless of the number of meets that got canceled at the beginning of the season, the season was still one to remember. “My favorite meet was probably Counties. Me as well as my relay team hit personal records. There were many successes from our team and everyone was very positive. This meet also included all the teams from around Montgomery County. This creates a competitive and friendly competition between schools and people you know,” Coven said.