Photo by Caroline Schlieker

Colten Thompson, 11, competes at the Mansfield Invitational track meet Feb. 17, 2023. [File Photo]

Hurling through the air with the wind burning his eyes, sophomore Brandon Laiberte reaches a personal record of 12-foot 1-inch jump during pre-season. He finds the fast motions make pole vaulting difficult to perfect.

“Last season’s start was a little rough for me personally, so I didn’t get to contribute much to the team,” Laiberte said. “This year, I want to be more consistent so I can be a better contributor to the team.”

Head girls’ coach Jeff Lindsey prepared his long-distance runners during the cross-country season. He only allows cross-country runners to join long distances to ensure they keep up with competitors. 

“If they don’t run cross country, they’re going to get passed up pretty quick,” Coach Lindsey said. “They won’t have nearly enough foundation to do the workouts that my cross-country kids do. My cross-country kids will run miles those kids can’t because they’ve been doing it all year.”

As numerous successful runners graduated last year, the team consists of many freshmen. Coach Lindsey is looking forward to seeing the freshman’s potential.

“We’re excited to see what happens. It’s hard to tell because they’re all so young,” Coach Lindsey said. “This year I really want to see the freshmen girls emerge into something early.”

Track will compete at Cedar Hill High School for their first meet of the season. These athletes trained during summer and through fall sports to prepare for the season.

“With the distance runners, we have cross country, so we never really stopped,” Coach Lindsey said. “For the track kids, hopefully they’re doing enough in their other sports so when they get to me we don’t have to start all over.” 

Going into the season, Coach Lindsey hopes for a successful team. He looks forward to seeing what these athletes can do. 

“I want them to establish themselves as early as they can so we can compete. I want a group that just wants to compete,” Coach Lindsey said. “There’s some distance runners that have a chance to go to state and I want to see that happen.”