Lucas Punkari
With only one meet on their schedule for the 2012 season, the Muskie track and field squad already is hard at work as they prepare for the NWOSSAA championships in Thunder Bay next month.
“We’ve just finished up our third week in the seven-week season and things have been going great,” enthused co-coach Natasha Shack.
“We’ve been doing a lot of running and time trials to get the athletes properly conditioned,” added co-coach Kendall Richardson.
“And the group here is in pretty high spirits so far, so we’re all pretty pleased with that.”
This week will see Shack and Richardson, along with volunteer coaches John Dutton and Ilka Milne, work with the 14 students to decide which events they will compete in at the NWOSSAA finals, which will be held May 23-24 at the Fort William Stadium.
“We will be competing in the short-distance events such as the 100-, 200-, and 400-metre races, along with the longer distance events like the 800-, 1,500-, and 3,000-metre races,” noted Shack.
“Then we have the field events, such as the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and shot put, which we will be working on this week during our practices as the students decide what events suit them best,” she added.
“Plus, we will also be working on our relay teams for the 4×100- and 4×400-metre races as those are probably the most fun events to be a part of on the track team,” said Richardson.
At stake for the black-and-gold is a trip to OFSAA, which will be held June 7-9 in Brockville.
