Although the track and field team faced a lack of male athletes and sprinters, they pulled through and found victory at the finish line – in the long run.

Coach Mr. Eric Benjamin considers the team’s biggest triumph so far during the season to be the overall success of the team in Distance and Relay events. The Men’s and Women’s team scored the most points in Distance events out of 15 schools that competed at the UCBAC Conference Championships, held on May 1. All of the Men’s 41 points came from distance events, and 58 of the Women’s points came from distance events. The women’s team has also won all of their regular season tri-meets.

“A majority of the team has improved greatly over the season, there are too many special improvements to really pick one,” said Benjamin. “I hope that the freshman that ran this year continue to improve over their high school career, and they see that to be successful in any sport, especially track and field you need to be prepared for the season.”

After competing at UCBAC Conference Championships, the regular season ended for most athletes with the Night at Wright meet on May 6, which is a tri-meet C. Milton Wright hosts annually.

“It is a chance for all athletes to check out a personal record, as not everyone on the team is able to compete at Regionals,” said Benjamin.

The MPSSAA 3A North Regional Championship was held on Saturday, May 17. Runners have to qualify for the event to participate.

Many of the seniors on the team plan to continue running during college. Megan Tidey will be running cross country at Hofstra University in the fall, Calen Dowley may be running for Wilmington University, and Ellen Shepherd plans to run cross country at Muhlenberg College. There are also currently five alumni competing for their colleges. Noah Hutton and Tom Carman run at UMBC, Megan Schott at Mount St. Mary’s, Annie Scott at HCC, and Sarah Cullum at Bridgewater University.

“The season felt really short this year after all of the snow and since it’s my last year. I really only know the distance girls because of how the team splits up, but I’ll miss all of them and I’ll miss running with them,” said Shepherd.

Although the season is coming to a close, Benjamin hopes that the student athletes stay motivated and keep training throughout the summer, and try out for Cross Country in the fall of the new school year.
“Believe in yourself, and don’t back down in a workout or race because you think it hurts or you can’t do something. If you push through ,and either win the race or run a PR [personal record] it will be feel really good once you cross the finish line,” said Benjamin.