The Antioch Community High School girls’ track and field team is into their first month of practice. They are ready and preparing to take on the 2025 season after their triumphant win at the 2024 NLCC Conference Championship. Head coach and sprinting coach, Dan Oslage, and distance coach, Chris Bailey, are eager to get into the season and prepare their athletes for yet another successful year. When asked what he was striving for this year Oslage had some positive notes to say.
“I’d like to see numbers continue to grow,” Oslage said. “I’d like to see us repeat as conference champions indoor and outdoor. I’d like to see more girls qualify for state, and I’d like to see more records go down so they can be added to the board.”
Oslage has well-grounded goals for his athletes this season. When it comes to accomplishing goals it is important to keep athletes away from injuries of all kinds. In order for athletes to stay healthy throughout the season it is very important to gradually start in the healthiest way possible. Oslage has the sprints workouts and practice schedule planned out. Coming into the season, some girls could be directly from other sports seasons or are coming from none. Either way it is highly probable to get injured if those are starting practices and have to immediately go all out, which is why Oslage plans to start slow. When the circumstances are striving for another conference win, injuries can be a big deal.
“It’s just about the routine and understanding what we do each day,” Bailey said. “We want to just get back into that rhythm and get everyone in shape. A lot of these kids are coming off the cross country season, so there’s that time off where some of those kids continue to run and some didn’t. We are taking the time to make sure that everyone is caught up and getting back in shape. So, when the season starts, we avoid a lot of those possible injuries.”
Not many sports have the privilege of being able to start slow, however, the highly beneficial part of track is the extended season. Our extended season includes indoor season starting in late January and outdoor season that starts after spring break. The indoor season gives coaches a great opportunity and the time to warm up and prepare athletes. Both coaches are on the same wavelength to focus on avoiding injuries by utilizing the indoor season to ease into things.
As the 2025 season has begun, the ACHS girls track and field team is motivated to make their mark once again. Coaches are expecting to continue to succeed at the conference level and more. With their coaches preparing them in the healthiest ways to avoid any possible injury, the athletes should start off on the right note leading to a successful year. Prioritizing keeping their athletes healthy is going to lead to multiple possible successes at the indoor and outdoor NLCC conference championships.
