With the track season coming to an end, Park competed in sections at Armstrong High School May 30. Park went above and beyond, breaking records along the way.
Sophomore Jacob Skelly competed in the 4×800 meter race and took his team to state. Skelly said he is beyond excited to be able to have the chance to compete at state.
“(It will be) my first experience being at state so I’m really excited to be participating in it,” Skelly said.
Junior Meaghan Knight competed in the 100 meter hurdles and got second place, making her eligible for state. Knight said she is very excited for the opportunity to compete against better athletes at state.
“Honestly, just seeing and being able to compete with better athletes is exciting,” Knight said. “Obviously our section is pretty good for hurdles, but being able to see how they run and how they warm up and their pre-race routine, that’d be really interesting. Maybe I can learn something from them and incorporate that into my routine too.”
According to Skelly, this group has been working together very well, and this has led to continued success within the track team.
“We had a really good core group of people that all helped each other out during each of the meets,” Skelly said.
Track coach Chris Nordstrom said being not satisfied has taken his team to a whole new level.
“For us, it’s going out and competing. Trying to go to state and have our individual kids make state. Have our relays trying to make the podium. Get medals and just continue to build on the culture of success that we have,” Nordstrom said.
According to Knight, she has a very specific warm-up leading up to her race, and this warm-up allows her to perform at a high level.
“I usually try to do a very thorough warm up, like a sprint warm up,” Knight said. “I like to listen to music on the bus ride there and I listen to calm, happy music that I can sing along to because it gets me into a good space.”
Nordstrom said the amount of kids committed to track has led to the success of the team and has allowed the track team to reach new heights.
“A big thing is the amount of kids that were committed from start to finish, and just building a positive culture of showing up every day and putting in work to try to get better, whether they’re JV kids or varsity kids,” Nordstrom said.
Knight said she’s very happy for herself with overcoming fears and completing a race she has only done a few times. She said she adjusted to the race and trained a lot, and her times reflected that.
“I only ran 100 hurdles this season, and that’s my fifth time running and being able to step up and go into a new event. (It’s) scary, but I adapted really well,” Knight said. “I worked hard and this was the result of it.”
Nordstrom said overall, the whole day was something to be happy about and to take into state. Park’s top athletes race against other schools to qualify for state.
“It was an awesome day. The kids showed up and they showed out,” Nordstrom said. “It’s kind of our best of the best athletes competing on the second final day. (We want) for kids to go out confident and give it their all and just compete against some of the best runners in the state.”
