The first track meet of the 2023 season was on March 16, at Ripon College. The girls placed third and the boys placed second. Due to the weather, the meet was inside along with the first couple practices. Having to practice inside can restrict the athletes from doing certain exercises that can only be done outside.
“For inside practice we aren’t able to run to our full ability, also the gym floor isn’t ideal to run on, throwers have to go into the multi purpose room and sometimes sprinters run the halls as well as the long distance runners. Outside we can run to our full ability. Everyone is spread out to work on their own events,” senior Jersey Reck said.
Reck does a variety of events including hurdles, the four by one relay and the four by two relay.
“For sprints and hurdles there are specific workouts and exercises that I have to do like block starts, and for hurdles specifically I work on my stepping in between hurdles,” Reck said.
Head coach Joe Stellmacher can only hope that the weather will be on his side which will hopefully give the team the opportunity to practice outside.
“Obviously, we are limited in what we can do inside. We have to be creative in the gym and the hallways. Hopefully mother nature cooperates with us and we can get outside sooner than later,” Stellmacher said.
By starting practices early enough that will give the runners time to get into shape for their upcoming meets.
“It’s important we start practicing early because you want to get in shape before you run in an actual meet. Also it’s good to get to know your teammates,” Reck said.
Some of the athletes who were not in a winter sport spent time in the weight room in hopes to be more in shape by the time the season starts.
“We had a great turn out of after school lifters this winter, so hopefully that will springboard them into a successful spring track season,” Stellmacher said.

Their next meet is on Friday, March 31 at Ripon College.