by Emily Wemhoff, photos by Grace Hodes

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With the weight of a 4 X 800 relay state title on their shoulders, sophomore Ann Campbell, senior Hannah McCausland, senior Lane Maguire, and senior Courtney Coppinger said that the preparation for this season of track and field has been much more intense than years past.

“We want to defend our title and run even faster than we did last year,” Campbell said. “We went into the season in really good shape.”

“Being defending state champs is a lot of pressure, especially since every member of our relay returned,” McCausland said. “We are preparing a little differently this year and we have added more weights, abs and hurdle drills.”

With the state championships not too far off, the relay team is helping to motivate their other track teammates. Sophomore sprinter Kennedy Bright says that she looks up to the older runners on the team.

“With them winning that State title, it really has motivated me to work harder and not slack off so I can do the same thing,” Bright said.

McCausland says the entire track team pushes each other to do better throughout the season.

“I know everyone worked really hard last year, but as my relay has become even more motivated, so has [everyone else],” McCausland said. “[The entire track team] works out together.”

Seeing the success of the distance runners has also turned a switch on for the sprinters.

“[The sprinters] want to do the same thing,” Bright said. “Our goal this year is obviously to take districts. We’re doing more speed conditioning to prepare our bodies for running long periods of time in short bursts like you would at a meet.”

Along with the 4 X 800 relay state title, the track team experienced much success last year. Bright qualified for State in the 100 meter dash, Coppinger and Maguire qualified in the 800 meter run and Campbell qualified in the 3200 meter run. The 4 X 400 meter relay team also qualified with juniors Mary Gibson and Lindsey Valdiviez and seniors Coppinger and Maguire competing.

“[State is] when all of your hard work pays off,” Campbell said. “People realize that they can do a lot better than whatever they are ranked. I know some people are really motivated to make it to state more so than last year because of how well everyone did last year.”

Overall, the track team placed 16th at State, but having multiple runners in different races will only prepare the team for more success this year.

“I now know what competition to expect,” Bright said. “Qualifying for state helped me see how far I can go.”

When asked the secret to their success, McCausland and Campbell both agree that new distance coach Melissa Moody’s training style combined with increased winter training helped them to victory last year.

This year they plan on winning it again.

“Before we ran our race, both Rockhurst and Sion won their 4×800 races, so we knew we had to as well,” McCausland said. “We didn’t want to be the only ones who didn’t get [that state title]. We had the dedication to win.”