Track eases their way into midway point of the season.
Park exceeds expectations at meet
Freshman Jacob Skelly starts to run the mile May 5. Park won the mile race with two people placing in the top three: Paxon Myers and Jacob Skelly.
May 9, 2023
The track team had a meet May 5 at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. They competed against Benilde, Jefferson and Orono.
Coach Chris Nordstrom said the track team met his expectations at the meet.
“We met the expectations I had for the team and they hit them pretty well,” Nordstrom said. “We need to pick up the energy earlier and work on teamwork.”
Sophomore Ace Thomas said the meet and the performance was executed to their best ability.
“Knowing and believing in our ability to go out there and to outshine the rest — knowing that we do put in that work (motivates me),” Thomas said. “I know the work that we put in and the energy and fire, and that helps us. I love track. It’s really fun. It’s a fun time out there and I think we all feel that way, so we go out there and perform.”
Nordstrom said the team has overcome substantial barriers in order to prepare for meets this year.
“We don’t have a legal track, so it makes it hard to prepare for other tracks, but either way we still do our best by conditioning to make sure we are in the right shape and we also do stuff to motivate each other and push through challenges for the rest of the season,” Nordstrom said.
Sophomore Anna Healey said she is excited about the possibility of state if they can keep up what they have been doing.
“We have a really hard section, but for the rest of the season I think we can upset a bunch of meets and make a push for state again and hopefully change the view on our school,” Healey said.
Thomas said there were unique challenges the team faced and they had to work through them together.
“We face more challenges than other teams,” Thomas said. “The track and weather played a part in that, which made us go inside, but nonetheless we still have to be our best.”
The Park track team’s next meet is at 3:30 p.m. on May 9 at the Mounds View High School.
