Indoor track and field excels at championships
After six hours of waiting, screaming nerves, and burning muscles, four black-and-gold clad girls walk out onto the track. None of them look around at the large crowd, but instead keep their heads down, their thoughts completely on the task ahead of them.
The gun goes off, and senior Charlotte Haggerty is off like a bullet. She hands the baton to senior Alexa Martinez, who is followed by senior Abby Hormes and capped off by junior Chika Chuku. The team stares up at the scoreboard in amazement at their final time of 4:12. This not only set a new school record, but also won the team the honor of being the IAAM All-Conference team for the 400 meter relay.
The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams competed in the IAAM/MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, Jan. 27. The women’s team finished the night off in fourth place out of 17 teams, and while the men’s varsity team only placed in 11th out of 12 teams, the men’s JV team impressed by finishing in fifth place out of 12 teams.
Both the men and women’s teams’ outlook for the season had been bright, despite their small size, and the team, “saved [their] best for the right time,” according to indoor track and field coach Robert Torres. With a total of four new school records and 22 personal records broken, the team had an impressive showing at championships.
Records were shattered on the women’s side in the 55 meter dash, 300 meter dash, 200 meter relay, and the 400 meter relay. “It was definitely fun to watch [them] compete,” Torres said.
Haggerty broke the school record in the 55 meter dash, while Chuku set a new one in the 300 meter dash. For the record-breaking 200 meter relay, the team consisted of Chuku, Martinez, Haggerty, and senior Caroline Barwick. Finally, Chuku, Haggerty, Martinez, and Hormes came home with the final record of the night in the 400 meter relay.
Among the notable events of the night, the women’s 800 meter relay team surprised all, taking third place. “I feel really good about winning the 800 [meter relay]. We weren’t really expecting to place, so it felt really good to get third place,” Hormes said. Hormes was joined by senior Adria Pirozzi, along with juniors Laura Amrhein and Rosemary Gillam.
On the men’s JV side, there were three major wins for the team. Starting in the 1600 meter dash, sophomore Bryan Stancliff took third place, a mere three seconds off of the lead runners. Junior Robbie Baronoski set a personal record in the 300 meter dash, and senior Iain Olsen had a personal record in the 500 meter dash, coming in seventh place.
According to Torres, the men’s 800 meter relay team also came out strong, winning fourth place over two “powerhouse” teams, Gilman School and Mount Saint Joseph High School. All four runners – Stancliff, freshman David Baronoski, and juniors Jared Vogel and Robbie Baronoski – beat their own personal records.
There was also a great showing from many of the field players, particularly in pole-vaulting. All five pole-vaulters, juniors David Pajerowski, Vogel, Kyle Wedemeyer, Abby Bryant, and Anna Kotula, ended the night with personal records and won the team valuable points in the field. “I’m glad with where we placed. I was able to [beat my] personal record. I definitely improved my form over the season, and I got higher heights [every meet],” Wedemeyer said.
In addition to the junior pole vaulters, Olsen and junior Evan Tridone had season bests in the high jump. They placed third and sixth out of eight jumpers, respectively. On the women’s side, Gillam tied her best indoor jump and got fifth out of 11 jumpers.
This was the final meet for both the men and women’s teams before the start of outdoor track and field season in two weeks.
Emily Stancliff is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.