After an entertaining and successful season, Track and Field ended their season on a high note by participating in playoffs and other large meets to bookend the year. Without the dedication of the team members and the spectacular coaching they have received, this program likely would not have seen as much success this season.
“[The team] worked really hard. I know there was definitely a core group trying to get better at almost every practice,” Coach Debrah Evans said.
After a long year of practice, training and many other meets, the female track members have been perfecting their skills in preparation for their first playoff meet. This meet, which was the girls’ Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) playoff, was held on Thursday, May 4 at South Park. The girls were able to qualify for this due to their hard work and dedication throughout the season. Unfortunately, there were not enough boys for the Bulldogs’ boys group to qualify for the playoffs. However, the girls were able to represent the team quite well. For example, senior Jersee Melvin recorded a time of 17.71 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles event. Junior Shaye Bailey placed first overall in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.08 seconds. Other great performances came from junior Madison Meyer, who won the 400-meter dash event with a time of 1 minute, 5.07 seconds, and Aurea Hickenboth, who won the pole vault event with a jump of 8 feet, 6 inches.
“My favorite part of the meet was winning the 4×1 and 400 events,” Meyer said.
The following day, on May 5, both the boys and girls traveled to Pine Richland for the Pine Richland Invitational. With over 1,500 athletes from over 50 different schools competing at this meet, this was one of the biggest meets the Freedom athletes had participated in this season. Many of the track members found themselves putting up good statistics during this meet. Bailey placed 11th in the girls 100-meter dash preliminary round and 13th in the finals, with times of 12.87 seconds and 12.93 seconds respectively. She also placed 12th in the girls 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 2.89 seconds. Freshman Trinity Vojtko also had a successful performance that day. Vojtko placed 10th in the girls discus, throwing 97.02 meters. Another great performance came from junior James Couch, who placed 9th in the boys 3200-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 6.91 seconds.
“It was nice going out to compete with kids that were amazing at what they do. It felt amazing to be roped into the event with a lot of other great competitors,” Couch said.
The final major meets of the season were the Northern Area Last Chance in Gibsonia on May 13 and the WPIAL AA Championships at Slippery Rock on May 17. During these meets, many of the track members participated in their events to prove themselves in some of the toughest competition all season. For example, the boys 4×8 team, due to their extraordinary performance early in the season, qualified and competed in the WPIAL Championships. The success of the team this season has shown their ability to work hard toward their goals and persevere through the adversity that may have arisen during the year.