On Feb. 17, the track season officially began. This year, over 100 students are competing, including sophomore Leonardo Utrera-Piedra. Utrera-Piedra explains why he joined track last year.

“Originally, I did it for a scholarship,” Utrera-Piedra said. “I had to do an extracurricular and I felt that doing track was the easiest way.”

Unlike Utrera-Piedra, this is assistant coach Kirk Wrightsman’s first year coaching at North. But this is not his first experience with the sport.

“I did track in high school and in college,” Wrightsman said. “I love the sport.”

Similarly, this is also junior Brooklyn Pendleton’s first year. So far, Pendleton says that she’s enjoying it.

“I feel like the whole group of throwers has been really fun to get to know,” Pendleton said.

Wrightsman also says that he has a passion for track.

“I think I probably get a little more excited about track because there’s so many different events,” Wrightsman said. “There’s 16 events that all go into the team score and everybody has to do their part in order for the team to be successful.”

The way athletes train depends on which event they compete in. Senior Bryce Harriman describes how he trains for shot put.

“Training for throws is different than running,” Harriman said. “We lift outside of practice and get stronger.”

Pendleton gives more details about how she and the other throwers train.

“We do practices every day after school, lots of drills and just working on the form and technique,” Pendleton said. “I do rotational, so a lot of twisting your body and making sure your legs go first, then the rest of your body so you get the full extension.”

Along with improving technique, Pendleton shares how she prevents injuries while training.

“We do a lot of weight room and we make sure we warm up a lot before to activate all the muscles we need to perform well,” Pendleton said.

But athletes don’t just have to prepare physically. Pendleton shares something that helps her with the mental aspect of competing.

“I always pray and I feel like that helps me get my nerves down a little bit so I can focus and perform well,” Pendleton said.

According to Harriman, all the training and preparation seem to be paying off.

“Overall as a team, we’ve been doing really good, especially down there in the throws and the distance,” Harriman said. “Our team has really improved this year.”

Harriman discusses his hopes for this season.

“We got into a new sectionals this year, so I’m mostly looking forward to winning that on the boys’ side, especially just winning a sectional title for the first time in many years and hopefully being crowned sectional champion in shot put,” Harriman said.

Wrightsman provides more details about how this year’s sectionals have changed.

“They took the eastern part of the state, some of those teams, and brought us together with them,” Wrightsman said.

Along with the changes to sectionals, there have also been adjustments to the regional competitions.

“We’re going to go over to Bloomington for the regionals,” Wrightsman said. “It’s going to be a very competitive regional.”

Regardless, Wrightsman says that he has only one goal for this season.

“I don’t care how technically good they are,” Wrightsman said. “If they come out, and they start somewhere, they continue to work, and they show improvement, that’s my goal.”