The Girls Track and Field team will compete in the IHSAA Sectionals on May 17th at Pendleton Heights High School, something the girls have been pushing hard for in the past week.

We have been practicing six days a week for the past months,” Sophomore Maddie Loughery said. “We continued to hit the weight rooms and getting our mileage in to be well prepared.”

Throughout the year, the girls team ran against tough competition, according to Coach Ben Morgan, something that helps with the confidence of the team heading into their biggest race of the year.

“Our conference and county are very tough, and we’ve run in many competitive invitations,” Morgan said. “The girls should be adjusted and prepared to face the competition tomorrow.”

While this meet has season ending implications, the mindset of the team does not change heading into the race according to Junior Jean Carson said

“We’ll just be doing what we have all year such as preparing our mental game and the physical aspect,” Carson said. “Today we ran our pre race to prepare for the different races and the demands of running.”

The 4×800 team of Shania Riding, Laura Matsuoka, Grace Dean and Jean Carson has had tremendous success this season, including winning the MIC Championship, something they look to continue through the postseason.

“We should advance in most of our relays as they have constantly placed all year,” Morgan said. ”The 4×800 team were the MIC Champions so I’m confident they can advance.”  

Although this team is filled with young varsity runners, the defending sectional champions have little cause for concern heading into tomorrow’s meet according to Loughery.

We have a lot of experience at big meets so we are not very inexperienced at big meets,” Loughery said. “We will not be as nervous tomorrow, which is the key to repeating as [Sectional] Champs.”