As the days start to get longer and the weather becomes more favorable, spring sports start to begin; among them, track and field stands as one of the most participated-in sports. With the many different types of events that it has to offer, there is a draw for many students. However, that also means that it was one of the bigger activities that school closures affected.

This year, the team is made up of 26 males and 33 females, which includes some students from Quigley Catholic High School, as part of a co-op agreement. In terms of staffing, David Badamo took over as head coach this year. Former head coach Ed Shepard moved to focus on running events. Also on the staff are coaches Tom Hickey, Jim Gregg, Emily Skirtich and John Roebuck. 

Before the season started, members attended practices at the high school, along with doing some personal training in their free time. At these practices, the team would warm up together with some running and then break off into their events. 

On March 12, the track and field team headed to Ambridge High School for their first scrimmage of the year. The weather was favorable for the day, with a high reaching about 65 degrees, a suitable temperature for a late winter sporting event. Due to many people being on a trip, only about half of the team attended the meet.

The scrimmage started around 3:45 p.m. with all of the throwing events due to Ambridge’s discus area being in the middle of the field. Following the completion of these events, the running and jumping events started. Since this was the first meet of the year, some people tried out some new events to see if they would want to participate in them throughout the season.

To close out the day, members of the team held a competition during the 4×4 relay. Some of the boys “drafted” teams for the relay, for a total of three teams of four people. The team of senior Matthew Levenson, juniors Garret Paxton and David Martsoff and freshman Colin Fricke emerged victorious out of the bunch.

During the meet, however, students kept on questioning whether or not there would be any track meets to follow that one. Their suspicions were confirmed when all schools in the county were closed for two (later extended for four weeks). As such, all sporting events, including track and field, were put on hold for the time being. This means that the team will be missing all three of their home meets, which were scheduled for March 17, March 20 and April 1. If school closures are not extended, the team will be facing off against New Brighton and the Ellis School on April 14 at New Brighton.