Track season began on March 21 with the UCM indoor meet. Following that, they attended meets on March 27 at Butler, April 1 and April 8 at Buffalo, April 10 at home, April 15 at El Dorado, April 16 at Skyline, and April 17 at Adrian.
“Track is starting out good so far. We have had a few injuries to work through, but other than that it is going well,” head coach Cody Morgan said.
The WHS track boys (Shane Poyser, Fisher Love, Josh Harvath, and Mason Anderson) placed first for the 4×100, which broke the school record with a time of 44.91 seconds. This event was held on April 15 at El Dorado Springs Relays. The last school record was recorded in 2005 with a time of 45.05 seconds.
Another school record broken has been junior Naomi Yoder with a time of 59.98 seconds in the 400m dash on April 8 at their Buffalo meet. Yoder also achieved a time of 27.19 seconds in the 200m dash, the last record set for this event was in 1982.
The track team has set goals and challenges for themselves to achieve by the end of the season.
“A goal I have for myself this season is to give it my all every single time, as well as improving my PR from last year,” freshman Alyssa Boyd said.
Boyd ran the 800 meter and began the season with a 3:25.30, placing 12th on March 21 at the UCM relays. She looks forward to achieving a 3:20.0 before the end of her freshman season.
“A goal of mine is to beat my PR in high jump, which is 4’10” right now,” freshman Addison Hill said.
Advancements have been made to each individual since last year. They seek new advice, inspiration and encouragement from others in order to achieve more.
“We have a lot of freshmen this season, which is good because we will be losing several seniors after this year,” Morgan said. Track and field has forty-six athletes on the team for the 2025 season and in 2024 they had thirty-four.
Morgan shares that he helps to make sure everyone is in the right event and gives them the coaching that they need in order to stay in better competition shape.
Track meets/practices have been successful for helping athletes gain knowledge and strategy. The athletes seek to learn more and get better at practices and events by the coaches.
“I have learned to not get in my head when doing an event and that I am capable of anything I set my mind to,” sophomore Maya Daughenbaugh said.
She is involved in discus and shot put this year and enjoys doing these events to learn something different.
“I have learned throughout my years as a track athlete that not everyone has what it takes to succeed. This has helped me set my mind to bigger goals,” senior Fisher Love said.
He plans to use this knowledge throughout college, as he will be advancing his athletic career at Southwest Baptist University for track and field. Love seeks to attend mostly long jump during college because it is what he excels in the most.
Practice techniques they do vary everyday to work on specific things with the athlete’s events in mind. Certain exercises help them to be better runners, throwers, etc..
“We do hip flexors with hurdles and it helps me be a better runner by stretching my hips,” sophomore Izabella Schierholz said.
As the season is just beginning, they have seen a number of advancements as a team overall.
“I have advanced in hand-offs as well as taking bigger strides,” Boyd said.
She shares that the secret to being a good track athlete is to lock in and focus on what she needs to accomplish.
