The sound of a gunshot is not familiar to most, but to sophomore Annamarie Morris, it’s the sign that tells her that the race has just begun.

The 2011 season of outdoor track and field took off with a bang as this season has had an unprecedented disruption of balance.

According to Coach Rob Torres, the women’s team is large in numbers.  The men’s team has lacked numbers in recent years, but has had the talent.

“This year’s team is looking very good. After a few years being down on numbers, we have the depth to once again go for a championship.  We’ve had quality distance runners for the past four to five years, but our sprinter and field numbers are up, and we have some top quality athletes in both areas,” Torres said.

Rising stars include sophomore Austin Markley, junior Vince Perry, senior Malcolm McMillan, and senior Ronald Scott, in sprints.  Junior Denzel Varner and senior Ousseni Ouedraogo have become prominent in the field events, and juniors Andrew Ellis, Ben Pickett, and Colin Brooks have been going the extra mile in distance.

Torres has high hopes for the men’s team, expecting them to win the ‘B’ Conference Championship. He believes that they will compete well against the ‘A’ Conference teams in this year’s MIAA Championship.

Although the women’s team lost many of last year’s sprinters to graduation and indoor track runners to spring sports, the high numbers also bring high quality.

No distance runners were lost, leaving seniors Elizabeth Tauber and Amanda Hudak along with juniors Taylor Battaglia and Kayla Stoots.  These leading runners were joined by freshman Amanda Spaeth.

Women’s sprinting outnumbers the rest as they are led by sophomores Kiana Wright, Rebecca Driver, Sam Clarke, and juniors T’Keyah Lisbon, Taylor Hooper, and Megan Battaglia.  New sprinters freshman Catey Minnis and junior Alexandra Loiodice have  contributed to the team’s success, while junior Heather Kirwan is one of the best pole vaulters in the league.

Although practice is different for distance sprinters, and field athletes, the track team believes that the team is unified. “I really like how our team is a lot closer to each other and more relaxed than other sports,” Morris said.

Torres expects the women’s team to be one of the better teams in the IAAM ‘A’ Conference.

“We seem like we’ve improved some since last year, especially our guy’s team,” Morris said. However, improvement as a team can be difficult due to obstacles like trying to get every athlete to every practice and meet.

“We have kids going on foreign exchange trips, vacations, etc. in the middle of the season. They then miss practices or meets for this, then for making up school work after school, or for various other reasons.  It’s very frustrating trying to run a quality team in these circumstances,” Torres said.

Despite these difficulties, Torres enjoys his role in helping young people achieve something. His favorite thing about coaching is “helping a kid succeed in the sport.”

Torres believes that the unexpected size and talent in this season will surprise their opponents as they take their marks, get ready, get set, and go.

Cara Reilly is a copy editor for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com