Junior girls’ track and field captain Olivia Mosby said although there were practices for distance runners Feb. 28 and March 2, upcoming captains’ practices after school March 7 and 9 will continue to prepare the whole team for the start of the season the following week.

Mosby said track began captains’ practices for distance runners a week earlier because they need more time to get in running shape before the season.

“Next week is going to mostly be everyone together, so it’ll be guys and girls combined, and we’re trying to get gym space and just have some activities for all the track athletes,” Mosby said.

According to head coach Richard Keith, while distance runners enjoy heading out for a run outside, other track and field athletes prepare for the season through games and other activities indoors.

“Distance kids go out on the road and they run. They try to make it fun by at least maybe going to stop at the ice cream shop and then run back,” Keith said. “The sprinters and jumpers, they don’t like to go out and run long distances, so they will probably starting next week find some gym space available, and then they’ll play some large mass games kind of like gym class just for the camaraderie.”

Mosby said plans for captains’ practices vary based on the experience level of the runners present.

“We’re just going on a run. We might go to Calhoun and maybe do something fun when we get there,” Mosby said. “If it’s a lot of veterans runners, then we can go farther, but if it’s newer people, we will probably go easier, and me and the other captain, Creston, will stay behind with the people who are newer to the running.”

However, Mosby said the group decided to embark on a longer run at the March 2 practice because many all of the athletes who attended were returning runners.

Keith said after trial and error, he realized it is best to avoid working too hard in the beginning of the season which can later on results in pains and injuries.

“The captains understand my philosophy, and they know that I don’t want them out there running around putting a lot of pounding on their legs necessarily,” Keith said. “That’s why captains practices are starting so late, basically a week before, because it’s just basically about the camaraderie piece, just getting together and starting to kind of socialize together, not really getting in shape.”

Mosby said she expects quite a few new members to join track this year.

“I think we’re expecting a good amount (of new members),” Mosby said. “It’s always kind of hard to tell because with track a lot of people say ‘oh yeah, I’ll do it,’ and then they don’t follow through with it.”

According to Mosby, track will have captains’ practices March 7 and 9 after-school for anyone interested in joining the program. The track season begins March 12.