Saying Our Goodbyes

Like I had stated in earlier posts, this team is a family. We act just like brothers and sisters and after the state meet had come to an end, we were all in tears. The end of state meant that it was our last meet together, the last time we get to warm up together and pump each other up, the last time we get to dance on the track and go crazy and that last time that we get to win together. Our relationships this past year have grown stronger than ever and even though it’s not the end of our friendship, it’s the end of something that meant so much to all of us. We didn’t necessarily care how we did individually, but as a team we hoped that if we were working hard together and having fun, we would succeed together and that’s exactly what happened. Each meet brought us closer together and the goodbye last Saturday was rough as can be. We didn’t think that this year would go by as fast as it did and it’s still weird not going to practices after school. Most of us just sit in the athletic hall and hang out because for almost 9 months, the track was our home. The experiences that I had as a Fort Collins Lambkin athlete will always remain in my heart and I know that the friendships I gained from this team will never be forgotten.

2nd place in the State Championships

All year I had been ranked 2nd in state for the 300 meter hurdles and when state came around I was a little nervous that something would happen. I wanted to win, who doesn’t? But I knew that it would be a challenge because one of my good friends, Kaylee Packham, was the defending state champ and a really good athlete. As we all got ready for prelims in the 300 meter hurdles, I thought to myself… If I want to win state I need to go all out in these prelims to prove to myself and everyone else that I can do it. Unfortunately, during my race I happened to hit every single hurdle with my opposite leg and I got 2nd in my heat. I wasn’t too upset because I knew it was prelims and I knew that if I could hit every hurdle right, then I would win or come close. As Saturday arrived I started to feel the nerves get to me. My stomach was aching so badly and I felt like I needed to throw up. The weather was also psyching me out because it was rainy and cold and I wasn’t prepared for that to happen. Once my race came around the weather started clearing up and I started feeling better, it was a miracle. I knew I could win and I had a great feeling about it. I was in lane 7 and my top competitors were in lane 5 and 6, I was nervous. As we came around the corner and hit the straight away all three of us were neck and neck fighting for the state title. Finally, Kaylee and I pull away from the other girl and start battling. As we hit the last hurdle I happen to stutter step and Kaylee goes full force and attacks it. She beat me by .4 seconds but I wasn’t at all upset. I had ran a 42.9 breaking my school record for the 6th time and running the 5th fastest time in the state to ever be run. I was happy as ever and knew that all my hard work had been paid off.   

Head Coach

The head coach of our track team is Conrad Crist. He had worked so hard in the last two years to build this team into a bunch of elite athletes. He has spent most of his time thinking of new work outs and ways to improve our team but also making sure we are all having fun and loving what we are doing.

Without him we wouldn’t be the athletes we are today. He’s done everything right for us and we all have peaked at the right time. He started workouts in early August and gave us the right amount of breaks and workouts to be successful by state time.

Friendships

Everyone knows that track is a co-ed sport. Our team is definitely one of the closest at this school and it shows; whether we are hanging out at practice or supporting each other at the meets. Everyone loves each other and we have all grown to be brothers and sisters. We may not always see things eye to eye but in the end we care about each other and that is why our team is so good. We all want to succeed so having each other on the same team helps when it comes to workouts and rough track meets because we push each other to get stronger and stronger.  All we want is the best for each other and to support each other no matter what we are going through. Like I said earlier, we are brothers and sisters, which means we can definitely get on each other’s nerves at times. We can get stressed out and start fighting about the silliest of things, but in the end we realize that we do love each other and want the best for each other. This team is a family and we’ve grown so close this year.

During the month of April, 6 of us at Fort Collins High School had qualified for the 2012 Arcadia Invitational in Arcadia, California. We flew out on a Thursday and came back on Easter Sunday. That was an experience of a lifetime and we all grew very close together.

STATE

As the year winds down, the stress level goes up. The month of May means that we have less than a month to get ready for state and for some people, get qualified for state. To make it to state you have to be top 18, once the state meet comes around there is usually two heats of each event meaning 9 people in one heat and 9 in the other (prelims) and to make finals in that event they take the top 9 fastest times from prelims. State is an exciting experience but anything can happen so you don’t usually expect to see the top 5 rankings in state finish top 5. Anxiety and nerves rise way high so falling over a hurdle, dropping a baton or even false starting is bound to happen but you’ll also see some spectacular performances in the end. 

http://chsaa.org/sports/track/

 Here is a link to find more about the state rankings and the state track and field meet

Competition within the team

Like I said earlier, the competition in Colorado is intense and some (if not most) of the fastest runners in the nation live here but what makes it even more intense is that Fort Collins High School has some of the best runners too. For a while it really sucked having to compete with your friends, making sure they didn’t beat you but also knowing they were your friends. On the plus side, as a team we are nationally ranked and that in team competition only made us better. During workouts we would push ourselves harder and harder each week and compete with each other to try and be the best. As everyone knows, girls can get jealous and just straight up mean so of course there was drama involved too, finally our coach had a team meeting and told us that we needed to start competing with each other rather than against each other. After that meeting we realized that when we put everything together and focus on the depth that we have, we can potentially be unstoppable.