As the track team advanced through conference on May 17, coach Arsenio Richardson said he believes that despite the weather, the team had a solid performance. 

“We started out pretty solid, it’s a windy day. Some of the events that we had ran into the wind, our team aren’t the highest ranked, but the kids are competing and we’re getting some of the finishes that we’ve strived for all season,” Richardson said.

Reflecting at the season, junior Brady Shultz said he believes that the team has made improvements.

“So far it’s gotten along really well, I think we’ve had a lot of improvement,” Shultz said. “The people have worked so hard to get better this season and I believe that we have really improved overall as a team.”

Junior Daniel Zilka said he wants to make sure he has a good handoff during relays to help his teammates.

“My goal for this meet is to have a clean handoff, both in the 4×100 and 4×200 and to make sure I can support my teammates in my race,” Zilka said.

Richardson said he believes that the team did well, but that there is always room for improvement for future races.

“Track is one of those things where some of it is so technical so you know, you can have days where you hit all your jobs, don’t knock over any hurdles and things like that, but then there are times where you got to be able to do it better. There is always room for improvement. You are racing against a clock, so even when sometimes you feel like you ran your best and may not be your best just based on condition so we are always shooting for improvement every day,” Richardson said.

After the boys team placed fourth overall, Zilka said he is excited to see how the team can continue to improve. 

“We’re doing pretty good. We’re just shy of a conference title this year. We’ve seen a lot of people push personal bests for the season. We have a lot more people this year as well, so it’s great to see people out here trying their hardest,” Zilka said.

Richardson said he hopes to use the momentum of conference as a stepping stone for sections.

“Seeing how we finished, we will  have a decent amount of time to reflect and get ready for sections which are about in 12 days. We definitely want this to be one of the bigger meets where we want to come out and compete and have an opportunity to win the conference,” Richardson said. “But then we want to reflect and see where we can be better and or we can put our best foot forward for section. This is a good benchmark to see kind of where our team is at.” 

Sections for Park’s track and field team will be on May 30 and June 1 at Wayzata High School.