The Warren Central girls track team capped off an impressive season last year, finishing second in the state meet and look to continue their success during their indoor season.
“I think we went out there and executed to the best of our ability. The competition was tough, but now we know how to perform this season. There is always room for improvement,” senior Marietta Williams said.
The girls will be putting in a lot of hard work in the offseason to ensure that the runners perform to the best of their abilities. They know what they need to improve upon in order to continue succeeding.
“We have been training since November, and we've really been working hard to get into the mindset that this season is coming up fast. As for me, I've been really focused on my individual event and training hard to PR in these upcoming preseason meets,” junior Taylor Thomas said.
While indoor season is a good training block for the outdoor season, it is also competitive in its own nature and allows the Warriors to see how they perform against other athletes.
“My goals for the team are to use indoor season as a practice and precursor for the outdoor season. More than that, I'd like to see the distance side try to make their mark at meets,” Williams said. “I'd love to see PR's. Individually I'd like to meet or improve upon my time from last year in the mile and half mile.”
Although the team finished second in state last year, they were disappointed in their performance and are setting higher expectations for this season. They were forced to overcome some difficult obstacles last season and are hoping this season will go much smoother.
“Last year we had a lot of injuries that set us back as a team, but I think through everything last year, we competed to the best of our ability. I personally think we were a little disappointed about how our season ended,” Thomas said.
The girls are returning many promising runners including Mikeisha Covington, 400-meter-dash state champion, Taylor Thomas, Cearria Williams, Marietta Williams and Prommyse Hoosier. Hoosier won state in the long jump and also won at junior nationals.
“There have been a couple things that have made me so successful throughout my high school career,” Hoosier said. “One has been the coaches I have, they never let me slack off on anything, and they really know what they're doing. I've learned to trust my coaches. My parents pushing and supporting me has also helped me be more successful. Lastly, God. Without Him, I wouldn't even have the ability I have today. He has blessed me so much and is still continuing to bless me.”
The girls are setting high team and individual goals for the season in order to push themselves to the limits and perform to their full capabilities.
“I would like to see everyone on my team at the state meet, including myself. I think we all have the talent and capability of doing so. Even though we have smaller team this year, we have the power to be state champs again,” Thomas said.
The boys will also be beginning their indoor season soon and are also creating high expectations for themselves as individual runners and as a team.
The Warriors are coming off a season filled with individual indoor success including Kyle Liwanag becoming the 3rd fastest runner in the indoor 800 run and 800 split, 4x200 relay team of Glenn, Hodge, Shannon and Jackson becoming the school’s 7th fastest in Warren Central High School’s history, and Elijah Price became the 3rd best indoor long jumper in the school’s history and numerous other achievements. Moreover, they also see the indoor season as a building block to work upon in preparing for there outdoor season.
“The training and opportunities to compete are critical to our athletes outdoor success,” head coach William Smith said.
In order to also achieve their outdoor goals, the team has been pushing themselves during the offseason and are making multiple changes to guarantee that the runners run at their fullest capabilities.
“We have added a few new coaches to the staff. We are making a bigger emphasis on using technology, especially with video. Sometimes the difference between winning or not is as small as 0.01 of a second. We only have 20 weeks of training between now and the state meet and we know that every practice, every drill, every rep may be the difference to gain or lose that 0.01 of second, so we are training extremely hard with that thought in the back of our minds,” Smith said.
While the boys had a successful season last year, they believe that they have yet to reach their full potential and plan to showcase their talent this season.
“I think last year had moments that went well,” senior Nathaniel Foreman said. “But we have a lot more in store for this season.”