On Saturday, March 18, the Antioch Community High School girls track and field team hosted their final indoor track meet of the season. The invitational featured over 21 high schools from all over Illinois. Last chances are always important when it comes to athletics, especially when a season is coming to a close. The meet gave the girls an opportunity to see some stellar competition and encouraged them to achieve their personal best as the 2023 indoor season finishes.
Larger invitationals are believed to be beneficial when it comes to the ACHS track program. The Last Chance Meet allowed the athletes to see some of the best opponents in Illinois, which they only get to compete against once or twice in the regular season. Racing against the best athletes around pushes the girls as a whole to work harder. Freshman sprinter Abbigail Fuesting believes that racing against great competition allows you to see how you measure up to the other athletes in your race and see where you can improve.
“Big meets make you push harder and go outside of your comfort zone,” Fuesting said.
Previously, the distance squad seemed to have little competition going on between the runners; for this meet, they did something different. Being it was the last meet of the indoor season, head girls track and field coach Dan Oslage was trying to find ways to encourage his team to finish the season strong. Oslage made a bet with his distance group that if each and every runner achieved a personal best in their individual events, he would buy them all chipotle gift cards. As this bet was not directed towards one individual person, it encouraged the girls to work as a team and leave everything they had out on the track.
Sophomore distance runner Angela Ortiz thought this bet was very beneficial for the girls. As track is an individual and team sport, this bet emphasized the team aspect. Each girl had to pull their own weight to ensure that they didn’t lose. Ortiz could not be any happier with the outcome of the bet and is eager to enjoy her chipotle when the team regroups after spring break.
“It was simply just fun,” Ortiz said. “It was something we could look forward to and that if we encouraged each other, like we always do, we would see great results.”
Not only did the distance runners have a very successful meet all around, but as a whole, the ACHS track and field program came away victorious. The girls program had over 20 personal bests meaning that almost every ACHS athlete that participated showed improvement.
Although the physical training stays mostly the same as track moves from indoor to outdoor, mentally, the track program hopes to see lots of changes. Becoming stressed over big invitationals causes athletes to doubt themselves, and this is something many ACHS runners and jumpers struggle with. As the outdoor season begins, these athletes are striving to have a more easygoing mindset. Junior sprinter Nora Lubkeman believes that one of the biggest changes her teammates, along with herself, need to make as the outdoor season begins is having better attitudes when it comes to racing.
“Myself and my team need to focus more on having positive attitudes during meets,” Lubkeman said. “It is hard going to a meet and seeing other kids easily beat your records, but for the outdoor season as a team we need to try and focus less on that.”
As the girls track and field program ran and jumped their way to a very successful indoor track season, they hope to continue this as the outdoor season begins. Catch the girls track programs’ first outdoor meet when the Sequoits return from spring break on Tuesday, April 4, at Grayslake Central High School.
