Many find it very hard to see the appeal of winter track, as the practices consist of running in freezing temperatures with seemingly no end goal. While many of our athletes keep that in the back of their minds, the reward greatly outweighs the brutalities of the weather that we face. There is also a strong sense of community, as there are many other athletes running with you, and you know that your teammates are there to not only improve themselves, but also yourself.
This year, we had a whopping 110 athletes sign up to participate. To put this into perspective, this is 1 in every 7 of students at Madison High School. The majority of our meets will take place at Drew University, including our first two within the same week on the 14th and the 16th.
After only 2 full weeks of practice, many of us are experiencing a myriad of different emotions: excitement to be back in season, nervousness of participating against some of the same and some new competition, and fear of how we will perform during competitions. Personally, I like to take it one meet at a time.
At the first meet, you make your first impression. It will help seed you for your next meets and gives you the opportunity to see who you will be up against for the next few months and realistic goals you can set for yourself.
The season is packed with many opportunities for our many athletes to compete. Our meets at Drew are on 12/14, 12/16, 12/19, 12/21, 12/30, 1/3, 1/5, 1/10, and 1/29. Later in the season, the meets take place at Ocean Breeze, which is a larger indoor facility in Staten Island that is sponsored by New Balance. The meets at Ocean Breeze are on 1/15 and 1/29. The meets at Ocean Breeze are larger competitions composed of schools we often compete against, as well as a few other towns. Our most important meets, sectionals and groups, take place in Toms River on 2/10 and 2/17.
The most competitive meet of the year takes place on March 3rd, called the Meet of Champions. Only those who exemplified excellence in their events and were able to beat the majority of those in their section and group gets to participate in a competition against the top athletes in the state. Attending the Meet of Champions is a true honor.
With many different opportunities, winter track hopes to have a successful season, embracing the culture that is winter sports.