A new track season is upon us, and both the boys and girls teams are coming into this season with experience as the girls’ team is bringing back ten returning players and the boys’ team is bringing back eight returning players. Each team has lost one huge contributor due to graduation; Trinity Austin and Thomas Perez who both hold many records for Griffith. “Losing Trinity was a huge loss for us because she was practically like another coach for us and an inspiration but now we need more people to step up this season,” said senior Diana Muro.
For the girls’ track team, some players to watch are senior sprinter Jaylah Bolden and sophomore sprinter Rylee Reitz. Bolden is coming off a solid first season as a member of the track team and steadily improved her lap times throughout the year. Reitz was a surprise contributor last season as she was the fastest freshman in the 800 race. Reitz is planning on improving her times this season and taking the next step. “In the 800 it’s two laps around the track and knowing you gave it your all is an amazing feeling, and I’m excited for the season to start,” said Reitz.
The boys track team has several names to watch such as: senior sprinter Craig Gordon, senior sprinter Myles Taylor, and junior sprinter Oshawn Lee. This is Gordon’s fourth year as a member of the track team. He’s improved his lap times each, year and his goal is no different this season. “Each year I’ve become faster and my stamina has improved which is critical when you’re a sprinter and I’m just trying to keep improving my times and finish high in each meet,” said Gordon.
As for Taylor, he’s a tri-athlete who also participated in swimming and cross country. “I feel like doing cross country and swimming has helped me boost my stamina up and you don’t need to be that fast to be a sprinter you just need to outlast everyone else so stamina is key,” said Taylor.
A new runner on the boys track team is Lee who also plays on the basketball team. This is his first year being on track. “I decided to do track because I wanted to stay conditioned for basketball season and become an even better athlete,” said Lee.
Some important meets to watch for is the Highland invite on April 25 for both teams where several rival schools such as Munster and Highland will be attending. Another important meet to watch is the Hobart invite on April 17 which will be their biggest invite as several teams from across the area will be competing. Both teams are looking to have several representatives in the postseason as both teams have the potential for a quite a few players to compete in the postseason.