Mid-January is when runners start prepping for the track season. The first official meeting was on January 15^th, and provided information on what track is all about, when the practices are, and when the meets are. The head coach and sprinting coach of Joliet Central’s Track and Field team is Coach White and the long distance coach is Coach Cherry. The difference between indoor and outdoor track is just that the outdoor track is bigger than the indoor track. Weather doesn’t matter to the team. Rain or shine, you’re running. Events vary from long distance, short distance, & field events. Some of the long distance events are the 800m, 4x800m relay, 1600m, & 3200m. Some of the short distance/sprinting events are 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, 4x200m relay, 400m, 4x400m relay, and hurdle events. Last but not least field events are long jump, triple jump, discus, high jump, and pole vault.

Some of the best sprinters come out and start conditioning late December, but anyone is welcome to join them. Our best long distance runners like Raul Rosendo, Andre Martinez, and Vincente Moreno. The practices that sprinters run are mostly on the track and in the weight room. The runners mostly run short distances on the track at their top speeds to improve their sprinting form. On the other hand, long distance runners run outside in any weather condition whether it is snowing or raining. They run 6-12 miles a day, and sometimes they do a workout of too improve their speed rather than their endurance called speed work. The long distance runners do the same on the track and run intervals and repeat 400m.

At a track meet, you’ll pick a spot for the team to be stationed at while you wait for your event to be called so you can run. Before a runner runs his/her event, they usually warm up by stretching and running a few laps to start sweating and get their blood flowing. They do this in order to be physically ready to race. At the end of a meet, the runners who place get medals and the coach talks to the team about how they did in the meet and how they can improve. This season, the runners hope to strive for the best at every meet. Good Luck to our runners!!!