Girls track wins EKL tournament during first-ever school participation

The boys team placed ninth

Ally Nguyen, JagWire editor-in-chief

The boys and girls track teams competed at the Eastern Kansas League meet on Friday, May 12 at Blue Valley Northwest. The girls team placed first overall with 118 points and the boys team placed ninth with a total of 38 points.

Track and field coach Chris Dunback believes that the attitude of the team and the thought process of individual competitors contributed to the strengths and weaknesses of the team.

“Some of us did really well and others got into their heads a little bit because it might’ve been their first league meet,” Dunback said. “We had some [personal records] today and some season’s best, so it was fun. We talked about this at practice this week, but if we’re positive and all in good spirits it’ll be contagious, but if we’re negative and have bad attitudes, that can also be contagious.”

According to junior Bella Hadden, although this wasn’t her best performance because of the way she went in, she still did well.

“I feel like I put myself through a really hard training week, so it’s not optimal,” Hadden said. “I’m still pushing myself as hard as I can, so I love the feeling of crossing the line.”

On the other hand, senior Gabby Hopkins felt well-prepared for this meet.

“I came in feeling good, it was a warm day and we had a really good week of practice,” Hopkins said. “I was just thinking ‘let’s go crush this and set records,’ so that’s what I did.”

Look forward to the next meet, Dunback focuses on mentality in order to improve.

“We gotta be able to handle a bit of pressure. We kind of get psyched out for no reason,” Dunback said. “We gotta realize that if we throw great or throw crappy, everybody still loves us.”

The next meet is on Friday, May 19 and will be the class 5A regional championship. The location is undetermined.

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