After First Meet, Varsity Track is on Track for a Great Season! by Shannon Hayes

Susquehanna Valley High School – April 4th, 5:30 P.M. It’s cold out, especially for most of the athletes on the field, who don uniforms consisting of tank tops and shorts. The stands buzz with excitement as students from all different schools line up, ready for the races to begin. Then it happens. A shot rings out through the air. Students take off running. Seton’s first varsity track meet of the year officially begins.

After weeks of practice, the varsity team finally took to the field, ready to take on Chenango Valley and Susquehanna Valley. Before the meet began, new team member Tait Christensen described his excitement. “I’m feeling great,” he told Voice of the Saints. “It’s the first meet of the season, we’ve been preparing for a couple of weeks now. It’s just gonna be exciting, just gonna go out there and just do our best and see what happens. Most importantly just have fun and just enjoy it.”

When asked about the meet, the team’s biggest concern wasn’t about the other teams. It was the weather. “Kinda cold,” junior Ann McNair summarized. She and Emerald Cole, both ran the Girls’ 100-Meter and 200-Meter races. “Definitely cold,” Emerald agreed. “But I think we’re doing well, especially for our first meet.”

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Andy Young

Photos by @Seton_shots on instagram.

Some Saints placed in the meet, such as Abby Rosengrant, who placed first in the Girl’s 400-Meter run with a time of 1 minute and 8.8 seconds and third in the Girl’s 200-Meter run with a time of 30.3 seconds. Tait Christensen charged ahead to take fourth place in the Boy’s 1600-Meter run with a time of 6 minutes and 7.0 seconds, while Yusri Razzaq claimed second place in the Boy’s 200-Meter with his incredible time of 25.0 seconds.

Brody Howard leaped to reach second place in the Boy’s High Jump with a distance of 5 feet. Meanwhile Caitlyn Patterson and Noah Ellsworth both placed fourths in the Girl’s and Boy’s Discus, respectively, Caitlyn achieving a distance of 59 feet 2 inches and Noah reaching 74 feet 7 inches.

The team feels optimistic about the rest of the season. “We have a pretty decent-looking team,” Ann explained. “More people, which is good.” Emerald agreed with her. “Yeah, we definitely have a lot of talent on our team and like a lot of fast people and good jumpers.”

Only time will tell where the season finds them, but with this strong of a start, Seton might have a leg up on their competition.