As Southern Lehigh’s 2021-2022 spring track season began, the athletes had goals in mind both as individuals and as a team. Coming out of a successful winter season, the members of the track team anticipate a strong spring season. 

Head coach Mr. Cotie Strong and assistant coaches Mrs. Michelle Schumaker, Mr. Brenton Ditchcreek, and Mr. Stephen Schrader work with the athletes all season to keep them goal-oriented and physically conditioned for their races. With the workouts provided by their coaches, these athletes are eager to better their skills and improve both on and off the track. 

“Coach Strong has put out some really good workouts for us to focus on and to build up our strength,” said senior Aiden Tobin. “By doing his workouts and some extra training outside of practices, I have really grown in strength, which I think will help me to be successful this season.”

Although each athlete has their own goals for their races, they must all work together to accomplish team goals. For the past six years, Southern Lehigh’s track team has won the Colonial League Championships, making it a very prominent perennial goal.

“Not only do we really want to win the Colonial League Championships, but we also want to focus on winning meets during the season and just doing the best we can to be successful,” said sophomore Brianna DeNave. 

Though they compete as individuals, the efforts of individual athletes contribute to the overall success of the team.. From going to bed early to drinking plenty of water, athletes complete simple everyday tasks thoroughly and thoughtfully to ensure they are as prepared as possible for their meets. 

“My preparation for meets is just as much mental as it is physical,” said senior Madison Trout. “So of course, I do a warm-up routine and stretch before a race, but I also envision my events in my head so that when I am on the line, I am prepared to execute how I want to.”

Runners are not only hoping for a successful season because of the hard work they put into practices, but also because the last few seasons were impacted by COVID. Now meets are almost completely back to normal and on the same schedule as before. 

“There were a lot of restrictions, we weren’t able to have winter meets last year,” said sophomore Alexandra Lea. “However, this year we were able to have winter meets and for spring we have tons of Colonial [League] meets and a few invitationals, which we are looking forward to competing in.”