Fall sports have come to an end, and the cross country season is over. Now, runners are looking forward to the upcoming indoor track season.
Indoor track is a coed varsity sport. It is a fun way for students to get in shape for outdoor track over the winter. Indoor track is also an effective way for cross country runners to stay in shape after the cross country season ends. “It’s a sport with competition but really it’s used to train, stay in shape and get ready for outdoor track,” sophomore Sean Kim said.
There are two groups of runners for indoor track, short distance runners and long distance runners. The group of short distance runners consists mainly of outdoor track runners getting ready for the spring season. “A lot of the long distance runners are cross country runners and use indoor to stay in shape,” Kim said.
Both short distance and long distance runners will be competing at six meets. The team’s long distance group is getting a new coach this year and is hoping to have a successful season. “[Our distance group is] expecting to go to states,” Kim said.
The team practices five to six days a week outside at the school and has six indoor away meets throughout the season. “Even though it’s called indoor, Wootton practices outside. The races are indoor though, and the track is half the size so each lap is a 200 instead of a 400,” Trzeciak said.
Since indoor tracks are half the size of outdoor tracks some events are changed or shortened, while others stay the same. For example, instead of the 100 meter dash, it is 55 meters. “Not all events are different. It’s confusing,” Kim said.
Some cross country and track runners who were on the team last year, like senior Jessica Trzeciak, decided not to join again this year for various reasons including the size of the team and the replacement of the team’s distance coach. “Wootton’s indoor team is pretty small [this year],” Trzeciak said.
Even though the team is smaller this year, the runners are confident about the upcoming season. “We are expecting to hopefully do well this season and have fun,” Kim said.
The first meet is on Dec. 4 and the location is not yet known.
