As the weather gets warmer, track moves itself outdoors! The outdoor track season began early April and is led by the new head coach, Melvin Mitchell.

The outdoor track team has been performing exceptionally well this season. Some highlights from their meet on the 3rd, are players who placed in the top 10 in their conference:

In the women’s 100 meter:

9. Amaris DeRosia-Estwick(14.23 PR)

In the women’s 400 Meters Varsity:

2. Chelsea Thompson (1:12.06)
3. Amaris DeRosia-Estwick(1:19.86 PR)

In the women’s 1600 Meters Varsity:

1. Catherine Hockenhull(6:32.23 PR)

In the women’s 3200 Meters Varsity:

1. Catherine Hockenhull(14:19.30 PR)

In the women’s 100m Hurdles Varsity:

2. Chelsea Thompson(19.76 PR)

In the women’s Shot Put Varsity:

1. Cassidy Ward(27′ 1 PR)

In the women’s Discus Varsity:

3. Cassidy Ward(45’ 0 PR)

In the women’s Long Jump Varsity:

9. Elysa Richards(13′ 6 PR)

In the men’s 400 Meters Varsity:

6. Prince Henry Adjei(56.35 PR)

In the men’s 1600 Meters Varsity:

6. Lucien Twizere(5.48.65)
7. Emmet Spaeth(6:37.01 PR)
8. Richard Powell(6:43.48 PR)

In the men’s 3200 Meters Varsity:

3. Lucien Twizere(13.26.12 PR)

In the men’s 110m Hurdles Varsity:

2. Trevor Thomas(21.29 PR)

In the men’s Shot Put Varsity:

3. Justin Chidozie(34′ 7)

In the men’s Discus Varsity:

1. Justin Chidozie(85′ 8 PR)

In the men’s Javelin Varsity:

3. Justin Chidozie(88’ 4)

In the men’s High Jump Varsity:

2. Jayden Shell(5′ 0)

In the men’s Long Jump Varsity:

5. Prince Henry Adjei(19’1 PR)

For Chelsea Thompson ’26, she exhibits clarity and intention in the level she hopes to compete and the heights she wants to reach in these coming meets. “I want to get an 18 on my 100m hurdles because that means I surpassed my state requirement, and that’s literally less than a second [from my current record]. I want to get a 69 on my 400m, 23 [seconds] flat on my 200, and I want us to break 53 [seconds] for the 4×100.”

Thompson points to patience as the key to consistent, long-term success, and centers personal progress over relative wins. “Patience is very important,” she said.  “It helped me through remembering to not worry about other people’s time, but my time, and not to race other people and focus on my race because I’m only racing myself.”

“Time does not drop automatically. It takes time, it takes practice, it takes dedication and just because people are naturals at it, doesn’t mean they’re going to be good at it forever.”

As for Amaris DeRosia-Estwick ’26, competing in a relay taught her teamwork, through the need to trust and rely on others. “Doing the 4×100 has taught me how to rely on other people more often, and not always rely on myself,” said the freshman.

DeRosia-Estwick competes in the 100, 200, and 400 meter dash. She’s focusing on improving in these coming meets as she wishes to qualify for higher levels of competition. “I want to get better and hopefully, make it to states”, she said.

As for freshmen, Victor Wilkins ’26, playing track has pushed him to go above and beyond.  “It taught me to be really competitive”, said Wilkins.  “Most of the time, I’m like alright, well I passed, good job but now it puts a goal in me to be the best.”

Energized by this attitude, Wilkins considers the competitive aspect of the game to be his favorite part of the track team. “For example, I compete with Jayden Shell 25’ in long jump because we jump almost the same distance, so every week we try to beat each other. I jumped 18.8 and he said next week he’s got to get like 19, so it’s really cool,” said Wilkins.

Upcoming meets on the schedule are on the 9th and 17th of May at the Weaver track.