According to senior Anna Jennissen, at the girls’ and boys’ track and field captains’ practices, they work on team bonding in preparation for the new season.

“Captains’ (practices) are more about playing icebreaker games and focusing on getting to know each other, rather than focusing on improving yourself for the sport,” Jennissen said.

Senior Olivia Mosby said opposed to the preseason grind of other sports, track’s goal is to bond as a large group.

“We didn’t really do a lot of training in captains’ practices because we wanted to focus on getting a big turnout and start team bonding,” Mosby said.

Jennissen said her favorite part of these practices is branching out and getting to meet everyone on the team.

“There are so many people from other grades, so it’s a lot of fun getting to know everyone,” Jennissen said.

Sophomore Alanna Franklin said the team’s main goal for the 2019 season is to get first in the conference.

“We want to do well in our conference because last year we got second place, and this year we are striving for first,” Franklin said.

Mosby said the combination of new and returning runners gets everyone eager for the upcoming season.

“Seeing all the new people show up and the returning people show up is a reminder of how fun the past season was, and it gets everyone excited,” Mosby said.

Jennissen said she looks forward to her last season of high school track while still looking to learn and improve.

“My goals for this season are to just enjoy my last season of track and hopefully improve on my times,” Jennissen said.

Mosby said her main goals of the season are scoring high at conference and having a strong team bond.

“I would love to see us place high at conference but also develop a team relationship and feel united because that’s hard to do with track because it is such a divided sport,” Mosby said.

The girls’ track season started Mar. 11, and the first meet will take place 4 p.m. April 9 at Orono High School.